MC stops artist from sculpting dead trees

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 13

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has stopped Tulsi Ram Prajapati from continuing his artistic work on dried up trees. Prajapati has been making sculptures on dried up trees for over a month and his work was being appreciated by several people.

Prajapati, a fine arts teacher at Government Senior Secondary School, carved out sculptures on eight dead trees so far.

While people commuting on the Vigyan Path near Rock Garden and Sector 8 are appreciating his work, the decision of the MC has disappointed him a lot.

He said it was on last Friday that some employees of the Municipal Corporation came to him and asked him to stop the work.

“I tried to convince them that my work is purely artistic, done only on dead trees, and will not harm any living trees, but they did not listen to my request,” he said.

Tulsi started tree sculpture sometimes ago and made sculptures on various social issues like ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ and crime against minor girls.

Prajapati said he made a request to the MC authorities for allowing him to continue the work as it would add to the beauty of the city. In a letter to the MC authorities, he said his work won’t harm the living trees and would be used to spread awareness on various social issues.

Mayor Davesh Moudgil said he was not aware of his request. If the application for permission comes to him, then he would look into the matter. But no one is allowed to carry out such activities without permission.