The National Highways wing, Coimbatore Division, will improve green cover along roads it took up for widening in the recent past. The NH made this assurance to the Madras High Court in a case filed by MDMK State Youth Wing Secretary V. Eswaran.
The NH, in its compliance report filed on December 21, 2016 as part the case, said that it had readied 10 acre along National Highway 47, dug 6,700 pits and raised 2,500 saplings. It would plant those and also another 4,200 in the next few days and take steps to maintain the saplings.
It had assured the Court that it would plant 500 saplings along the NH 209 Sathyamangalam Road. It had already planted 600 saplings and taken steps to water those. In addition to the promise, it had also planted another 500 saplings in Saravanampatti along the Dindigul-Bengaluru Road.
To plant saplings near the toll plaza on the Coimbatore Bypass Road, it was readying land near the Neelambur Toll Plaza to plant 1,000 saplings. It had completed the pit digging work and would soon raise the saplings, the NH had said in the compliance report.
In short, it would soon complete planting 9,100 saplings, it added.
Mr. Eswaran said that he was forced to move the court because the NH took little action to bring back the tree cover after chopping 5,534 trees along the roads under it control.
He had cited the Supreme Court judgement that said that for every tree chopped, the authority concerned should raise 10 saplings.
Based on the order, the NH had now promised to plant 10,000 trees along highways in Coimbatore. Now, he would move the court again to ensure that the court extended the order to all other districts in the State.
According to an official of the NH wing, the plan is to plant over 15,000 saplings and it will be completed in a week or so. The department has identified places where it can plant a large number of saplings so that it will be easier to water and maintain these. And is looking at more such locations.
Some non-Governmental organisations had also come forward to support with saplings and maintenance. In a couple of places, it is trying to go in for drip irrigation too.
“Though according to the norms we need to plant about 9,000 saplings and most of it has been completed, we plan to plant 15,000 to 20,000 totally,” the official said.
