The afforestation drive undertaken by the Social Forestry wing to compensate for the loss of trees that were axed for the development of the NH-66 bypass is complete.
With nearly 31,500 seedlings of 38 varieties being planted on around 22 hectares of land spread across the premises of Sainik School in Kazhakuttam and the greenfield stadium at Karyavattom, the region has become the largest green lung in the city.
In place of acasia
Planted at a cost of over ₹30 lakh, the saplings include a wide variety of fruit-bearing, flowering, medicinal and timber species, including mahogany, jack fruit, mango, guava, tamarind, bamboo, Ashoka, tecoma, bullet wood tree, ‘kanikonna,’ sandalwood, neem, and gooseberry. They had been planted in place of the large cover of acacia trees that existed earlier.
Monoculture
“While acacia monoculture had been practised earlier, we decided to do away with the system and bring in more varieties. Despite having been clear-felled, wind pollination has resulted in rigorous undergrowth, which is usually suppressed through frequent weeding,” J.R. Ani, Assistant Conservator of Forests (Social Forestry), Thiruvananthapuram, said.
While the Social Forestry wing will undertake the maintenance of the plants for another year, they will be reverted to the respective custodians of the properties from then on.
Bringing relief to the officials, the recent summer rains ensured that the seedlings did not dry up. With watering not being part of the afforestation scheme, their growth heavily depend on the impending monsoon. It would require another three years for the plants to sustain themselves and withstand climatic vagaries to a large extent.
According to Mr. Ani, the wing had written to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seeking support for another afforestation drive on a plot of 20 hectares, which came under the University of Kerala campus in Karyavattom.
With the proposal to undertake the project under the National Green Highways Mission failing to find a favourable response, other avenues were being explored to kick-start the endeavour.
We are contemplating the feasibility of obtaining assistance from the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change for the project, he said.
Nearly 4,200 trees had been identified to be felled for the four-laning of the 26.5-km stretch from Kazhakuttam to Mukkola, which formed the first phase of the ongoing NH-66 bypass development project.
