MANGALURU: Three vehicles, including a JCB, car and a water tanker were damaged after the upper portion of a huge iconic Ashwattha tree in front of Venkataramana Temple on car street broke off at the bottom of the trunk and fell. The incident happened around 8am on Sunday.
“The centuries-old Ashwattha tree (sacred fig) fell this morning. By God’s grace, no one was injured. Many of us have memories around the tree. It had a different charm during the annual car festival of Lord Venkataramana,” said MLA Vedavyas Kamath.
Environmentalist Jeeth Milan Roche, known for relocating several trees without damaging it, said that concretisation and frequent human intervention led to the early death of the tree. It may have lived for another 100 years if it was given its space, he added.