A joint inspection on Thursday to decide on the number of trees that can be retained during the four-laning of the Kazhakuttam-Mukkola stretch of the NH-66 bypass failed to arrive at a consensus.
Another round of inspection has been scheduled for Friday.
Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Social Forestry wing of the Forest Department, and members of the Tree Monitoring Committee were among those who took part in the inspection.
While the NHAI officials sought to convey the proposed alignment for the project, the environmental activists appeared dissatisfied owing to the lack of demarcations on the road. It was finally decided to push the exercise by a day and discuss the issue after demarcating the carriageway, shoulder, median, service roads and other features of the proposed road.
Replanting
Another bone of contention that remained unresolved was regarding the assurance to replant or transplant trees that need to be felled for the project at a different location.
The NHAI has proposed to plant three times the number of trees removed at a 20-acre plot near Sainik School at Kazhakuttam.
However, environmentalists, who included G. Shankar and Sridhar Radhakrishnan, have strongly rejected the proposal and have claimed that as per a new policy of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the trees should be replanted along the same stretch of the National Highway and that 1 per cent of the project cost needed to be set aside for the purpose.
They also urged the officials to seek additional allocations from the Central government for the purpose.
10% can be retained
The observation made by Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson that only around 10 per cent of the total 4,700-odd trees could be retained has come as a blow to environmentalists, who have held the view that nearly 40 per cent of the trees could be preserved.
Along median
They also rubbished the views of the officials that trees could not be retained along the median.
According to them, many places, including New Delhi, had trees planted along road sections.
On the other hand, NHAI officials have raised concerns that retaining trees could pose a danger to the lives of road users.
Joint inspection of Kazhakuttam-Mukkola stretch of the NH-66 bypass to continue today.
