When V. Balakrishnan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mylapore, saw a number of posts on social media on the condition of the Nageshwara Rao Park after the cyclone, he decided to take action. “Since I have a background in agriculture — I did my post-graduation in it — I thought I would try and do something,” he said.
On Thursday afternoon, he, along with a team of eight police personnel visited the park to try and see if any of the trees could be restored to their original positions. “A lot of the huge trees had been uprooted, and nothing could be done about them. But we saw a lot of smaller trees, maybe two or three years old that were partially uprooted and had fallen. These trees were not dead, and so we though that by propping them up, we could revive them,” he said.
Using broken branches, Mr. Balakrishnan and his team lifted the fallen trees and put them back in their places. About 25 trees were propped up on Thursday, he said and on Friday, more trees were propped up and supported. “There are around 100 such trees that we are planning to prop up. Some of them are caught under the bigger trees, so we are trying to remove them first,” he said.
On Thursday afternoon, he, along with a team of eight police personnel visited the park to try and see if any of the trees could be restored to their original positions. “A lot of the huge trees had been uprooted, and nothing could be done about them. But we saw a lot of smaller trees, maybe two or three years old that were partially uprooted and had fallen. These trees were not dead, and so we though that by propping them up, we could revive them,” he said.
Using broken branches, Mr. Balakrishnan and his team lifted the fallen trees and put them back in their places. About 25 trees were propped up on Thursday, he said and on Friday, more trees were propped up and supported. “There are around 100 such trees that we are planning to prop up. Some of them are caught under the bigger trees, so we are trying to remove them first,” he said.