Meanwhile, 2 old trees collapse as roots are cut deliberately

Nagpur: In yet another unfortunate incident of root damage due to construction activity, two age-old trees of the city completely collapsed near University Library Square on Wednesday.
About a week back, TOI reported that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is taking efforts to restore a 150-year-old Banyan tree near Ambazari lake, the roots of which were damaged during road expansion.
While the banyan tree didn’t collapse, the extent of damage in this case was so severe that the two ‘Aakash Neem’ and ‘Karanj’ trees got uprooted and fell. “Marks on the roots suggest that they were deliberately cut for construction work. The soil around the huge tree bases was excavated deeply to loosen the holding capacity of trees,” said Surbhi Jaiswal of environment NGO Green Vigil foundation.
The NGO alerted the civic officials about the incident who agreed that the trees fell due to root damage. “We will take appropriate action after further enquiry. It is not clear which agency is responsible for this,” an official said. Nagpur Metro work is under way on the stretch.
TOI learnt that NMC’s garden department will be serving a notice to the road contractor.
Meanwhile, to avoid further damage to the tree in Ambazari, NMC has started building a concrete wall in front of the exposed roots. Officials are further filling up the space with soil and fertilizers so that the damaged roots get nourishment.