The image were taken on June 7, 2025.  
| Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK

There is a trouble spot on Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai, by the side of the compound wall enclosing the Stella Maris campus. A tree stump resting more on the carriageway than the pavement can be missed at night, its brown colour getting “absorbed” in the dark. A motorist can run into the stump.

The tree stump has to be either painted in fluorescent colours or extracted from the landscape. The stump belongs to a rain tree that was considerably weakened due to digging of earth for Greater Chennai Corporation’s Integrated Stormwater Drain project. The tree was set in place with some packing that accompanied closing of the trenches following completion of the SWD work. The tree did not have much leg space and was also leaning on the compound wall. The removal of the tree is justified, but leaving behind a part of it is not.