The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday directed Public Works Department (PWD) to weed out Seemai Karuvelam (prosopis juliflora) trees, considered harmful to ecology, from Vandiyur Kanmoi in the city and file a compliance report by Wednesday.
Passing interim orders on a public interest litigation petition pending in the court since 2013, a Division Bench of Justices R. Sudhakar and V.M. Velumani directed the Chief Engineer and Executive Engineer of PWD to make sure that that the compliance report was filed on time.
Direction
The judges also directed the High Court Registry to communicate the order forthwith to the two engineers so that they could take emergent steps for weeding out the trees which turn the land dry by sucking much of groundwater besides poisoning the water. The PIL petition had been filed by Walkers Club, represented by its secretary M. Sheik Dawood, seeking a direction to the State Government and district administration to desist from establishing Traffic Park Driving Training School on a park located adjacent to the waterbody.
During the course of final hearing of the case, the court was appraised of the poor maintenance of the waterbody and hence it appointed three advocate commissioners who, after an inspection, suggested desilting of the waterbody by at least 10 feet in order to restore it to its old glory.
PWD asked to file compliance report by Wednesday
