Pruning Trees and Tree Maintenance Platform

Our state (Tamil Nadu) is busy these days with upcoming local body elections for all corporations and municipal councils, and I assume perhaps because of this, the ruling government has arranged for tree pruning in our neighborhood. Our street has many trees (planted by volunteers) on the streetside, and they didn't prune in a long time resulting in overgrown branches, as any heavy vehicle or lorry passing the road got rubbed against the same. 

The trees opposite our house had grown dense and spread widely/wildly, blocking the light and wind at our receiving end. We used to cut a few branches of the trees now and then, and last week too, we cut a branch that extends to our balcony using a worker from the cousin's bike service. The raintree on the east side of the road opposite our south-facing house had grown wildly or improperly in shape, disturbing the view outside - blocking the light from the streetlamps. 

The same thing happened with the Indian tulip tree right opposite our house, except the tree took a neat and beautiful form. These trees were planted after the 2016 Vardha cyclone - the natural disaster that had taken an abundance of trees in the city - these trees were planted by a neighbor without knowing what saplings they were. The pruning of trees should take place before the monsoon to prevent tree falls and to encourage growth, but this pruning is purely for positive results (in the local body election) for the ruling party. 

The Greater Chennai Corporation uses a tree maintenance platform - a three-wheel vehicle with the driver standing on a bucket lift controls the machine completely, cutting and moving from the same. It's the first time I see a pruning machine or pruning tower in use, though there are bucket trucks or truck cranes where the crane is attached to the back of the trucks, and the trucks had to move independently and the crane separately. But this pruning tower is entirely controlled by someone standing from the bucket is amusing to watch.

In a few minutes, with the help of the tree maintenance platform, the corporation worker pruned the trees to half, letting us a sigh of relief as if we had come out of stuff. They say pruning trees will help it to grow better and more productive. The trees look bare now, the sky widely visible, and the balcony is full of sunlight, the wind blows freely, and this is the best time of the year, with summer not far away - the rising sea breeze lifts the spirit. 

(Clean view of our street from left to right, after pruning)

I wish the trees grow again, but not the way to look uncomfortable and block other natural elements. I love trees and don't wish to cut any trees, but rather desire to see more trees planted and forestation happens. We need more forest landscapes to prevent human-animal conflict, which had risen lately never before; to increase the oxygen level and to reduce carbon dioxide, growing trees are the only source. Let's trees grow and protect the resources of life.