The administration of the Madras High Court Bench here has begun taking steps towards protecting hundreds of trees grown on its 107-acre campus after the weekly >‘Madurai Matters’ column of The Hindu carried a news report on the stress caused on the foliage due to the summer heat and water scarcity.
Casual labourers of the Public Works Department, entrusted with the maintenance of the court campus, have been engaged to dig pits around the trees and fill them up with coconut husk, which, they believe, could hold water for long without letting it go waste.
The bottom of the tree trunks is also painted with tar to prevent them from insect attacks and decay.
Expressing happiness over the steps taken to save the trees, advocate T. Lajapathi Roy, who had co-authored the book ‘ Green Bench of India ,’ along with another lawyer G. Prabhu Rajadurai, hailing the green cover on the court campus, said he was also trying to mobilise funds for saving the trees from succumbing to the vagaries of nature.
