Sandalwood trees in public places and on the premises of government offices have always been lacking adequate security and many of them are felled by miscreants and smugglers under the cover of the night.
In some of the cases, sandalwood trees were axed and stolen from the premises of reputed institutions even in the presence of security guards.
Keeping these factors in mind, the Forest Department has planned to erect protective mesh around sandalwood trees in the city.
A senior official of the department said that discussions were held on starting a project to protect sandalwood trees grown in public places and on the premises of government institutions.
“An iron protective mesh around the trees or ring-like structure built of cement and bricks giving adequate room for the trees to grow can ensure protection as they are difficult to be broken. The structure will have a height of at least two metres. A plan is being mooted to set up such protective measures for sandalwood trees,” said the official.
In most of the cases, sandalwood trees were axed using hacksaw blades and power tools. Curd and oil were applied on the cutting portion to reduce the sound of power tools and saws.
According to the official, similar initiatives are being implemented by Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, for the protection of sandalwood trees.
Some of the sandalwood trees, especially the oldest ones, at VOC Park are also having protective iron mesh. The meshes were set up after two sandalwood trees were felled from the park in August 2014. The miscreants had managed to smuggled one of the trees they felled, while left the other one.
A survey conducted in 2013 had showed presence of more than 4,000 sandalwood trees in four wards of Coimbatore Corporation.
Before starting the initiative, the department will have to conduct a similar survey to locate and calculate the number of trees in the city.
