These days 3 KM portion of Canal road needs expansion due to rush of traffic not visualized when the road was built and trees planted alongside. In fact the original planners of canal road were more concerned with environment than the ground realities emerging in the future which has resulted in two camps one favouring trees and the other public interest. A lesson ought to be learnt from the imbroglio before the Supreme Court that in all future road building trees may not be planted near the roadside not only to allow for future widening of road but also to avoid accidents in case of vehicles swerving off the road and hitting the trees which commonly happens on our inter-city roads. The past faulty planning in planting trees near the roadsides should not be treated as national monuments of folly but need to be rectified at present. DR. MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI, Lahore, August 12.