Volunteers of Osai with assistance of the police on Tuesday transplanted one of the four trees that will be removed from Park Gate junction as part of widening the road to facilitate the ongoing flyover work. The peepal tree (Ficus religiosa), known as arasa maram in Tamil, will be transplanted to the premises of Coimbatore Central Prison. The tree was aged above 50 according to volunteers.
A neem tree (Azadirachta indica) aged around 35 and two nettilinga maram (Polyalthia longifolia) aged 20 too will be transplanted in the coming days.
The uprooted peepal tree with its huge branches trimmed was initially transported to Police Recruits School (PRS)campus. However, the volunteers had to transport the huge tree back to Coimbatore Central Prison after proposed place for re-plantation at PRS campus had presence of rock below the layer of soil.
“The State Highways Department approached us to transplant the four trees as part of widening the road at Park Gate junction. The Department is providing us the logistics required for uprooting and transporting the trees. In normal cases, the cost of transplanting a tree would come around ₹ 40,000,” said K. Syed of Osai who is in charge of the transplanting works.
Before planting a tree at the new location, the pit will be filled with the soil collected from the spot where it was uprooted. This is called as 'thai maannu'. The soil will be mixed with dry cow dung before releasing earthworms. After planting the tree, adequate amount of water will be sprayed to the whole trunk apart from regular watering in the bottom.
Mr. Syed said that the neem tree will be uprooted and planted at PRS campus while the remaining two trees will be planted in the premises of State Highways Department office on Trichy Road.
