As part of the concerted efforts to free the drought prone district from the menace of seemai karuvelam (prosophis juliflora) trees, the district administration has come forward to distribute free tree saplings to the public who removed the trees and showed interest in green cover.
Addressing the farmers at the monthly grievance day meeting here on Friday, the Collector said the district has a ready stock of 11 lakh tree saplings and they would be given free of cost to those who wished to join the district administration in its efforts to provide more green cover to the district.
The Department of rural development have grown the fruit bearing and wood value trees saplings, he added.
Massive operation
Stating that the district administration has launched a massive operation to remove Karuvelam trees, acting on the directions of the Madurai bench of Madras high court, he said the operation would become successful only if the general public also joined and removed the trees from private lands.
The magnitude of the menace was very large in the district when compared to that of other southern districts.
If the trees have invaded in about 335 acres in Kanniyakumari, the invasive species have spread in about 2.59 lakh acres, including 1.70 lakh acres of private lands in this district, he said adding the trees could be eradicated only if all agencies joined hands.
Public and private companies and the Railways have been issued notices under section 133 of Cr PC to remove the trees in their respective areas, the Collector said and exhorted the public to take a pledge to remove the trees in the next one week.
He said if private land owners failed to remove the trees from their landholdings, the district administration would remove them and the landowners would end up losing the wood and paying double the removal cost, he warned.
The district administration has pressed into service, 205 earth moving machineries in the district doing its best to eradicate the trees.
The operation could become a success only if it turned into a mass movement, he said.
Awareness programmes
The general public were being sensitised about the ill effects of the harmful trees through series of awareness programmes and rallies, he said.
