THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:When National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) decided to fell the trees lining either sides of Kazhakootam-Mukkola NH bypass road as part of developing it into a six-lane road, it had faced stiff opposition from various quarters including several environmentalists. However, the green advocates can now heave a huge sigh of relief since compensatory afforestation on 21 hectares of land around Kazhakoottam has been completed.
Saplings had been planted on 20 hectares of land belonging to Sainik School and 1 hectare near the swimming pool inside the Greenfield Stadium, Karyavattom during the monsoon. The saplings are being taken care of by the Social Forestry Wing of the State Forest Department. The saplings for the project were bought from various nurseries in Alappuzha and Kollam districts, besides the nurseries owned by the Forest Department.
Officials with the Social Forestry wing said that the department has planted around 31,500 saplings of 38 varieties. The trees include mango, jackfruit and those of medicinal values. The plot at the Sainik School campus was divided into three so that a big umbrella of green covered the area in the future. The department will be identifying more government-owned lands to plant trees in order to conserve the environment. As part of the project, the department had written to the government to hand over five acres of land near Karyvattom University campus for their afforestry project.
“We have already made our interest known to the government. We have sought permission to plant saplings on 5 acres of land at Karyavattom University campus and are hopeful that we can begin the work soon. There we can plant more species of plants. If the government is willing to hand over more space, we are willing to plant more trees,” said S Padmakumar, Deputy Range officer, Social Forestry wing.
Meanwhile, the officials raised apprehensions over the drop in rain fall during the months of October and November. “Of course, the drop in rainfall is a huge concern. However, we are doing everything to compensate the losses. The authorities of the Sainik school have expressed interest in allotting us more land to plant more saplings. We will do so during the next monsoon,” a top official said.
The officials added that the total cost for planting the saplings comes roughly around Rs 25 to Rs 30 lakh. NHAI had felled over 1,000 trees on either sides of the 16 kilometer Kazhakoottam-Mukkola stretch as part of the development of NH bypass.