To widen the national highway, as many as 120 trees to be cut at Perungalathur
Posted on: 27/Aug/2018 9:43:58 AM
There are many trees present on both the sides of the national highway at Perungalathur. The latest news that has come out is 120 trees would be cut down for the sake of expanding the NH. There are plans by the NHAI or National Highway Authority of India to widen the road on either side along the stretch of Irumbuliyur to the Iraniyamman temple.
According to some forest officials it is clear that they have been given the work of transplanting the tress to some other place. Since no permission was given for an alternative site fate of the trees remain uncertain. Mr. Amit Asthana, who is the principal chief conservator of forests (research and education), spoke about how the trees that were selected for transplantation were 15 years old.
On a trial basis to evaluate their survival rate, as many as 42 tamarind trees were planted inside the State Forest Research Institute campus in Kolapakkam. This transplantation has been done by the officials from the research wing of the forest department. Recently at Kolapakkam Forests Genetic Resources Tree Park was inaugurated is known. In this park jamun trees were planted by the research team. The superb piece of news is the trees have survived very well and this was confirmed by Mr. Amit Asthana.
Mr Asthana later spoke about how trees like samanea saman, neem and Peltophorum pterocarpum would be transplanted within a kilometre from the present location. He explained the about the presence of many tamarind trees that were almost 100 years old and how the NHAI authorities have made some changes in the road alignment to make sure that these tamarind trees were not uprooted. Earthmovers would be used to transplant trees having 90cm girth for a fee of Rs 5000 per tree whereas the charge for trees above 90cm girth would be Rs 12000. In case a tree does not survive after transplanting, NHAI has not put any penalty clause in the agreement.
He later threw light on how the preparatory work like cutting trenches, pruning the branches of trees to be transplanted and pitting would be taken up soon. He added that the wing has sought permission from the NHAI authorities for the work plus the site where they would be relocated. It is now revealed that the transplantation has been planned for the month of November as the monsoon would be over by November.
