: Tree Walk, an NGO, has called for the conservation of green corridors in the city, in the light of the plan to widen the road from Swathi Thirunal College of Music to the NoRKA office at Thycaud.
The NGO has written a letter to the Chief Secretary and the District Collector calling attention to the need to protect the trees along this stretch, and highlighting their environmental and societal importance.
According to Tree Walk, the stretch is a major green corridor that has over 70 trees belonging to 25 species. Some of these trees, such as the Myrobalan trees inside the Child Welfare Council and Gandhi Bhavan compounds, and the Indian Damar are rare as far as the city is concerned, and are valuable as medicinal plants as well.
Such green corridors are essential to bring down the Urban Heat Island Effect caused by tarred roads, concrete buildings and tiled spaces. They also serve as green open spaces.
Although the former Collector had assured the Tree Committee that the road widening plan at Thycaud would only involve pruning of some branches and the erection of safe footpaths, Tree Walk recently got information that a few trees on the stretch would be cut down.
In its letter, the NGO has sought a review of the road widening plan with maximum focus on safe footpaths for pedestrians, especially students who frequent the area. It has also suggested that alternative parking spaces be provided for inter-State buses that often create traffic congestion on the stretch.
Green corridors lost
Tree Walk’s plea has come in the wake of the loss of two major green corridors in the city in the recent past. Since 2012, over 60 trees were axed along the Vanchiyoor road as part of road-widening. The ongoing national highway development programme along the Thiruvallom-Vazhamuttom section also involves the loss of more than 2000 trees belonging to 25 species.
The NGO had attempted to prevent the loss of tree growth along the Vanchiyoor road, but to no avail. Even the residents of the area did not understand the need to conserve the trees, Anitha Sharma, co-ordinator of the collective, told The Hindu. The side effects of tree-felling have already begun to appear in the area, according to her.
She said Tree Walk had written to the district administration offering its services for re-greening the area, but it had received no response so far.
