VietNamNet Bridge – Local residents in the southern city of Tra Vinh are going to sue the local authorities, because they believe that the hoa sua (milk flowers) are the agent that causes environmental pollution and badly affects the living atmosphere of people, especially old people and children.

Hoa sua, which are the pride of Hanoians, has not been welcomed in Tra Vinh city. The milk flower odor has become an obsession to local residents every time the flowers blossom

In poems and songs, milk flowers’ smell is described as charming and passionate. However, Tra Vinh’s local residents do not like the strong smell of the flowers.

Milk flowers spoil living space

With about 700 trees and thousands of other plants of different species, including valuable ones, Tra Vinh has been well known as the most attractive green urban area in Mekong Delta. In an effort to improve the living space, 10 years ago, local authorities kicked off the plan to grow the trees with scented flowers.

At first, the plan made local residents happy, because they hoped to have attractive trees and flowers in the near future. Besides, they were also happy because they could bring the milk flowers’ smell from the capital city to the south. Milk flower trees have been grown on many roads in the inner city of Tra Vinh, including Quang Trung and Hung Vuong, Cang Long town and Highway No 53.

However, the plan to beautify the city has failed when local residents have become suffocated with too many milk flowers. The streets give unbearable smell every time when flowers blossom.

According to Nguyen Duc Nghia, an herbalist; milk flower trees have the scientific name of Alstonia scholaris. It can be seen mostly in Asia, including China, the Philippines, India and Vietnam. The flowers are very scented. However, the smell would be unbearable if there are too many flowers.

Nghia said milk flowers’ smell could be considered a kind of allergen. Especially, it can cause sinusitis which is a danger to human health. No one can bear the smell, if it is too concentrated. The flowers blossom for one month every year.

Sau Hong, a resident on Quang Trung road, said that local residents have complained about the milk flowers’ smell over the last many years. However, local authorities have been doing nothing except cutting some trees’ branches. Hong said that the measure has not brought any effects, and every summer, local residents still get suffocated, especially on hot days.

Tu Long, an official of Tra Vinh City, also said that the city’s residents always try to go pass the streets with milk flower trees. He said that if the local authorities had anticipated the problem and only decided to grow a limited number of trees, this would not have caused such a big problem.

Le Van Man, a local resident, said that he really does not know what to do now: if the trees are cut down, it would be a big waste of people’s money.

Local authorities may become defendant

After making a lot of exertions and seeing no improvement, local residents have threatened the local state agencies which grow milk flower trees.

Director of the Tra Vinh provincial Urban Public Works Company, Ho Van Tri admitted that it was a good idea to grow some milk flower trees which would give delicate smell of flowers. However, since too many trees have been grown, the smell has become no longer attractive. Tri said his company has proposed to chop down the trees to give back normal living space to people.

Herbalist Nguyen Duc Nghia also thinks that the local authorities should replace milk flower trees with other kinds of plants which can both give shade out of the sun, and do not affect people’s health.

According to Lawyer Do Bien Thuy from the HCM City Bar, local residents need to prove that milk flowers have bad effects to people’s health. With the proofs, will they be able to sue the agencies which grow milk flower trees for damages.

Source: SGTT