Termites eating into green cover of City Beautiful

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 29

A large number of trees on both sides of the Jan Marg face threat to their existence from termites. Many trees have been badly weakened and these may collapse anytime.

An environmentalist, LR Budania, said preserving fully grown trees was as much important as planting new ones. The city had already lost many trees to termites and many others are about to collapse.

Budania said proper and timely action, such as using anti-termite chemicals, was required to protect the trees. If no action is taken, these trees will barely survive for next two or three years.

Another environmentalist, Rahul Mahajan, said the problem of termite had aggravated in Chandigarh. "If we want to increase the green cover in the city and save the old trees, we should take sincere efforts to curb the termite menace," he said. Budania has suggested setting up of an advisory committee of experts who will take stock of the situation and suggest steps to be taken for their preservation.

Sources said while a majority of the trees were within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation, the trees on the main roads were looked after by the administration.

An officer of the UT Administration said a study had highlighted that termites were eating into many trees, threatening their existence in some cases. Most of the trees along the V3 roads of the city are infested by termites. To make matters worse, the study warns that some of these trees weakened by infection pose a threat to commuters' lives.