Planting of avenue trees in Chennai has become a multi crore money spinner, with a private company claiming exclusive rights to plant trees and charge for advertisements on hoardings fashioned as tree guards, to aggregate Rs 140 crores a year. The concept of community based tree planting has been practically buried, and the company has claimed exclusive rights to plant 1.5 lakh trees in the city. It is collecting an advertising charge running to Rs 800 a month for each tree guard.