Storm aftermath: Efforts to clear uprooted trees, broken branches underway in Lutyens' Delhi

The efforts to clear uprooted trees and fallen branches continued in Lutyens Delhi on Wednesday with several teams of the New Delhi Municipal Council NDMC at work, according to officials.Delhi lost over 290 trees, some of them decades-old, during Mondays fierce thunderstorm, prompting the civic agencies to launch special drives to clear the city roads.

The efforts to clear uprooted trees and fallen branches continued in Lutyens' Delhi on Wednesday with several teams of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) at work, according to officials.

Delhi lost over 290 trees, some of them decades-old, during Monday's fierce thunderstorm, prompting the civic agencies to launch special drives to clear the city roads. Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena called for a thorough review of the reasons for the uprooting of trees to ensure that this does not happen again.

''The work is being done on a war footing to clear the uprooted trees and branches from the roads to ensure vehicular movement is not affected,'' a senior NDMC official said.

According to data shared by the NDMC's Horticulture Department, Lutyens' Delhi lost at least 77 trees and 58 big branches broke off in the fierce thunderstorm and heavy rains in the national capital.

The department fears that some of the uprooted trees might be those tagged as 'heritage trees' by the NDMC. A damage report is yet to be compiled.

The uprooted trees include neem (seven), peepal (six), jamun (five), arjun (four), and seemal, pilkhan and bargad (two each). One tree each of imli, kadelia, kusum, kekan, balam, bheda and eucalyptus were also lost during the storm.

The NDMC's Horticulture and Enforcement departments are responsible for clearing uprooted trees and debris.

Other roads where trees were uprooted and traffic movement was affected include Mother Teresa Crescent, Ashoka Road, Shankar Road, Firozshah Road, Jantar Mantar Marg, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Copernicus Marg, Tilak Marg, Purana Quila Road, Pandara Road, Subramanyam Bharti Marg, Janpath, Mansingh Road, Sardar Patel Marg, K Kamraj Marg, Krishna Menon Road, Tolstoy Road, Thyagraj Marg and Sunehri Bagh Road.