From the Mumbai Mirror just last week: Lights hurt trees (Never mind they may save people)
This tree near the Dadar Catering College on Cadell Road has been the cause of many accidents. It has reflectors nailed to it. More than the thousands of people who die in road accidents in Maharashtra, the state government is concerned about trees feeling pain.
A Government Resolution issued by the Public Works department on September 5 prohibits nailing of reflectors on trees because at a meeting with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, social activist Anna Hazare said “trees were living creatures and fixing reflectors on them with nails was not appropriate”.
Records show that 11,935 people lost their lives in road accidents in the state in 2007 alone, and more than 25,000 persons were injured....killing 24 and injuring 145 persons every day - casualty figures much higher than those of terrorist strikes and bomb blasts, as a minister pointed out at the meeting, sources said.
Dr Narendra Jawale of the NGO Man Associates Nature and Jawale Charitable Trust, said, "We welcome the decision taken by the government. The practice of piercing trees to fix nails harms their growth. This has been scientifically proved. It might appear to be a small issue, but we need to be sensitive towards it."
