Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Jan 24: The huge peepal tree opposite the iconic Venkataramana Temple at Car Street here fell on Sunday January 24.
The incident took place at around 8.10 am.
Fortunately, not many people were around at the time, and hence no injuries or casualties were reported.
It is however learnt that three vehicles - a crane, a water tanker, and one car, were damaged in the incident.
Sources said that the tree was one of the very few ancient trees in the city, and was well over 300 years old, with some locals claiming that it was thousand year old.
Speaking to daijiworld, a resident of the area said that around five or six years ago, Mangaluru City Corporation had undertaken an operation to axe the tree for road-widening, but the locals had opposed the move.
The tree fell in the direction of the main road, where, being Sunday morning, hardly any people were around. If it had fallen in the other direction, where there is a popular stationery store, parked vehicles and Venkataramana Temple, the damage would have been considerably more.
Police and fire personnel arrived at the spot and began operation to clear the debris.
As the ancient tree was starting to decay, another peepal sapling had been planted beside the older tree on April 19, 1963, in the presence of Manel Shrinivas Nayak, Ullal Srinivas Mallya, Indira Mallya, Jodumath Keshav Bhat, the then municipal corporation president Somashekhar Rao and other eminent personalities. Today, this tree has grown to its full glory.