The man who planted 200 trees in Abu Dhabi is an inspiration

Sinan Al Awsi has planted 209 trees on Airport road, Abu Dhabi. Chris Whiteoak / The National

With regard to Ali Al Shouk's article Meet the Abu Dhabi resident planting hundreds of trees to make the UAE greener (June 3): What a beautiful initiative. The 200 trees he's planted benefit not only the neighbours who enjoy the shade and breathe cleaner air, but also other residents. It's nice to drive past pockets of green. Mr Al Awsi is right that anyone can do this once they take permission from the authorities. I hope more people are inspired and follow his example anywhere in the world. Collective community effort can really benefit the environment.

Kafui Kavi, Accra, Ghana

First Emirati woman to scale Everest

With reference to Nick Webster's report First Emirati woman conquers peak-to-peak Everest challenge (June 8): Climbing both Mount Everest and Lhotse in a day is awesome! many congratulations to her.

Karen Al Ali, Abu Dhabi

Accountability needed in India bridge collapse

With reference to Taniya Dutta's report Bihar bridge collapse: State's chief engineer is suspended (June 6): This bridge reportedly costs 205 million dollars. The authorities must run a thorough investigation into the cause of the collapse and examine how exactly the funds have been utilised. How is it that structural defects in the bridge were not detected earlier? An incident like this is damaging on several levels. An inquiry may reveal this to be yet another example of how typically some middle men may well be making large amounts of money, allocated originally to an infrastructure project, endangering the lives of the common people. Fortunately, this bridge was under construction and no one died. But it is a reminder of a tragedy last October when the 233-metre suspension bridge in the state of Gujarat killed 135 people. Accountability has to be sought.

Bipul Sharma, New Delhi, India

Seeing the video puts the matter into perspective. That this was the second time the same portion of the bridge collapsed could be a sign of poor contractors. Evidently, something was not done right.

Ephicien Mark, Douala, Cameroon

This is a sad state of affairs preceded by the Odisha train disaster. Opposition parties have been alleging lack of involvement by the authorities who were assigned to this mammoth project across the river, and questioning the quality of raw materials used for construction. Allegations of corruption have come up. But whatever the actual reasons, it is unacceptable that a bridge should collapse once, let alone twice. This is unacceptable. Administrators in Bihar will have to answer tough questions. The state should take responsibility for the projects in their region. Will this project will be carried on and good strategies employed by engineers in the future, and how long will it now take to complete is another question.

K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India