Chennai Citizen Connect: Unknown miscreants target trees at Murasoli Maran park in Perambur

CHENNAI: Months after unknown persons pruned the avenue trees in the Murasoli Maran park without permission, miscreants have struck the trees again - only leaving four to five feet of the tree barks this time.

The residents of the Perambur locality were left perplexed by the mystery troublemakers who were targeting the trees in the area in a short period.

The trees were cut on March 25 and 26, the residents say.

“When we contacted the officials in October 2024 to find out who had pruned the trees, we were informed that some miscreants had done so in the wee hours of the night and were unable to put a face to the case. Now, the trees are being axed with the bark left intact. We are very concerned about how such acts of crime are being blatantly ignored by officials and elected representatives,” wondered C Raghukumar, a social activist in the locality.

He also shared the residents' theories of trees being probably cut to get a clear view of the political party’s hoarding on the opposite side of Tank Link Road or the digital display board kept inside the park.

“Relocating the display board to another location could have been a simpler solution and could have the trees from an axe,” he said.

Raghukumar also noted that there was technology to uproot and replant trees elsewhere and asked why that option was not pursued, especially when we were rapidly losing green cover due to the Metro Rail works by the CMRL and Perambur Railway Station redevelopment.

When contacted an official attached to the Greater Chennai Corporation said, “It is unknown to us who has cut the trees but a complaint has been filed on our part and the CCTV footages are checked to find the culprit.”