17 June 2012 Kerala Commentary
School buildings are unsafe in Kerala.
P.S.Remesh Chandran.
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
Schools and hospitals are the two types of institutions where cutting down and removal of dead and danger-posing trees are to be undertaken on an emergency basis. A few years back, since these are mostly government institutions, the work could be done by simply writing a letter to the Assistant Executive Engineer of the concerned PWD Buildings Sub Division by the Headmaster or the Head of the Institution. Since then things changed and now they will do it only if this letter is accompanied by a cutting permission letter from the Assistant Conservator of Forests of the Social Forestry Wing. Forest Department has constituted a committee of civilians and officials who will inspect the spots to determine inevitability of cutting when several such requests have accumulated. In a government mental hospital in the state, the superintendent informed them that their patients are not sensible enough to run away when a danger posing tree uproots and falls over their heads. Even then the forest department which turns away their faces when whole forests are cut down by mafia goons did not issue cutting permission for those trees in that asylum. Allowing PWD the cut and removal subject to later value assessment and auction by the forest department is the only solution. The story of coconuts falling above school buildings is something different. Coconut tree climbers declining to help yield the crop has long been a problem in Kerala which has been causing havoc among farmers. Many think that, when ripe, the coconuts will fall anyway and can be picked up. And the leaves too will fall when dry. But what about cleaning the crown? The farmer cannot wait everyday at the foot of the tree for the coconut to fall so that he can pick it up before another does. It is true, many coconut tree climbers suffer from calloused hands and legs and many occasionally fall and they too have a family to take care of. But considering the present rates for climbing the tree and also the success of labour welfare activities in this field, they certainly can make a living out of this profession. Most of the old tree climbers have already passed away and the new generation turns their faces to this profession, like what happened in the paddy fields in Kerala. All of a sudden, cultivation of this crop became unattractive and cumbersome in Kerala. The first person to react to this vital problem and bring this crisis to public attention was the beloved genius and joker of Kozhikode, late Ramadasan Vaidyan who startled Kerala by announcing his ‘Coconut Tree Climbing Training College’ which he got inaugurated by Sri. Chouhan, I.A.S, who did it by climbing the tree though this North Indian officer knew nothing about coconut climbing. It was his first experience. But it was not the first joke of Ramadasan Vaidyan. He was the person who organized a great public meeting at Kozhikode to commemorate the centuries-long valuable services of the numerous Washing Stones in the beach there.