Forest Department officials are all set to embark on an ambitious project to remove the prosopis juliflora (karuvelam tree) naturally grown as an invasive plant over an area of 970 hectares under reserved forest areas of Amaravathi and Udumalpet forest ranges.
As a prelude to the commencement of the project, the officials had completed a comparative study to evaluate financial expenditure that would be incurred to remove the plants using different methods like manual and mechanised techniques.
“Financial survey has been carried out to find out feasibility of whether the removal of the said species can be carried out by the department itself or whether the services of any other agency need to be outsourced”, District Forest Officer A. Periasamy told The Hindu .
The forest department took the decision to remove the Prosopis Juliflora as the plants have started affecting the growth of the other plants in the forests because the species suck out huge quantities of water for its growth. During the drought period, the impact used to be extremely worse.
“It is also not conducive as a fodder crop for the wild animals since its leaves are thorny. Due to its presence to an extent of about 80 per cent of the reserved forest areas spread over 970 ha in Amaravathi and Udumalpet ranges, there is no other option but to cut down these plants”, said Mr. Periasamy.
