Over seven full grown trees were found felled at Subramaniya Siva Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Paaparapatty.

The incident came to light after morning walkers, who use the school campus that has been developed into a micro forest, noticed the chopped remains of the trunks on Saturday (August 23, 2025).

Local town panchayat councillor from CPM Vishwanathan Venugopal, who routinely uses the track abutting the tree lined school compound for his morning walks, also noticed the freshly cut trees.

“When I was on my walk on Friday morning, the trees were there. But on Saturday morning, I noticed stumps of the trees, bearing testimony to what was once a tree. I went about counting and found over 7-8 trees chopped. Many were covered with leaves from the branches, while a few had soil on them as a cover up,” said Mr. Vishwanathan. “Clearly, someone had gone about using a powersaw for the timber,” he added.

When contacted, the school headmaster M. Tamizhvanan said that he had asked for a dead tree to be removed, and a tree that was felled in the recent winds, for students’ safety. “Besides that only branches were asked to be pruned,” he insisted. However, he was not around when the orders were carried out as he was away for an inspection with the Chief Education Officer. No tree was asked to be felled, he insisted, and acknowledged he had not seen what was done after he left the campus.

The Hindu also reached out to the Chief Education Officer of Dharmapuri, Jothi Chandra, who asked for the photos and videos to be shared and that an inquiry will be held.