LAHORE, Oct 25: Hundreds of trees along the canal between Shah Jamal and Jail Road were improperly trimmed last week and caused ‘extensive damage’, says an expert horticulturalist.

Col Ijaz Nazim (retired) made these observations while passing through the area and noticing workers trimming tops of the trees so they would not interfere with electricity wires. He said the manner in which the trimming was conducted, rather than the act itself, was the problem.

“Trimming is fine, but you don’t cut entire top of a tree,” he said, adding that workers were unsupervised and they cut off entire limbs that would distort trees’ shape.

He said deciduous trees should only be trimmed in winter, while evergreen trees may be trimmed in winter or shortly after the rainy season. Trimming out of season can be problematic for a tree’s shape and health, he added.

Trimming is not something “that can be done casually” and tree surgery is a science in itself, he said.

Responding to the claims, Mustafa Kamal, leader of the Chief Minister’s Task Force on Horticulture, said the Water and Power Development Authority had to trim trees out of season if they were coming into contact with power lines as it was a public safety issue.

He acknowledged the workers had not trimmed the trees correctly, but said the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) would later take steps to balance trees’ shape through further trimming.

He said the long-term plan was to plant trees of a smaller height. He said PHA workers would be trained in tree surgery after the opening of PHA’s Horticulture Training Centre in November.