THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The largest compensatory forest set up under the supervision of the forest department in the state is readying for handover. The compensatory afforestation was made at 51 acres of land of Sainik School, Kazhakuttam, against the conversion of forested area for national highway project from Kazhakuttam to Mukkola in Thiruvananthapuram.
As part of the highway development, the authorities have felled as many as 4,500 trees in the region. And it was in 2016, the afforestation began at the 51 acres of land given by the Sainik School, Kazhakuttam, under the supervision of Social Forestry arm of the Forest Department. Now it has around 38 varieties of different tree and plant species. The afforestation was done after segregating the land in three portions and trees and plants were selected considering the soil and climate in the region.