A week after Cyclone Vardah, the count of fallen trees in Chennai has gone up to 17,133, according to a press release from the Chennai corporation.
Of these, 12135 trees have been cleared. Moreover, the corporation also cleared 20, 722 tonnes of garbage, and 19, 378 tonnes of tree waste was also removed, reported The New Indian Express.
A corporation official told TNIE that the data of number of trees were collected after surveys conducted by assistant engineers in each zone.
The city corporation had increased the number of workers involved in relief work to 19, 411, which was earlier about 18,000. About 3200 workers were brought in from other districts, including 743 lorries, 416 excavators and 560 gasoline powered saws.
However, 5000 trees still need to be cleared. The city corporation has identified the trees which can be saved and they will be taken care of by the corporation. Moreover, the corporation will be planting more saplings than the number of trees which were uprooted.
The press release also stated that 509 of the 2,226 damaged lamp posts had been fixed and 1,085 of the 2,465 complaints received by the corporation have been sorted.
Relief measures which are undertaken by the corporation were reviewed at a meeting held at the Ripon Building on Sunday. It was attended by municipal administration minister SP Velumani, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Secretary Phanindra Reddy and Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan.