Chaguanas Mayor hopping mad over TTEC tree chopping

“Totally irresponsible” is how Mayor of Chaguanas Surujrattan Rambachan described the TT Electricity Commission’s (TTEC) tree cutting exercise outside the Divali Nagar site, Churchill Roosevelt Highway yesterday. Rambachan said Ashoka trees planted by the organisers of the annual Divali Nagar were sawed in half without anyone in the Borough being notified. “It took six years for them to grow, they are ornamental trees that are hard to grow,” said an irate Rambachan.

The incident has resulted in the cancellation of today’s planting of  50 Ashoka trees and bougainvillea at the Endeavour Flyover. Rambachan said the planting programme was intended to be a “garden gateway” that will leave people entering the borough with “a sense of awe” but he is rethinking the plan because he does not want a repeat of what happened. He has spoken to officials of TTEC, and was told that the area where the trees were cut was State land, but Rambachan said the authorities cannot act in a “willy nilly” manner.