TENKASI: The State Highway Department will transplant 1,300 trees along the Tirunelveli - Tenkasi State Highway, which is being widened as a four-lane road, with the help of Bharathiar University (BU).“In a first in the State, a mass tree transplant will happen along this highway road.
We have identified 1,300 trees including Vembu, Vaagai and Pungan trees aged between 10-25 years and a 50-year-old Banyan tree, and Peepal trees. The survival rate of this transplantation is 90 per cent. We achieved this rate when we transplanted 200 trees in Tirupathur,” said A Manimekalan, Head of the Department, Environmental Science of BU, whose team identified the trees for the transplantation.
He added his team rejected tamarind trees and other trees which would be difficult to transplant. “The pre-treatment on the selected trees will begin in the first week of October, when we expect rainfall which will make our work easy. We will perform post-treatment on each of the transplanted trees for six months. These trees will be transplanted within five to ten metres from the place from where they have been uprooted,” said Manimekalan.
Rama Udayasuriyan, an activist who was demanding the tree transplantation since the start of project, welcomed the decision. “The State Highway Department planned to cut 3,399 trees for this project. Out of them 1,161 trees were cut in 2018. Replying to my RTI query, State Highway Department said it will plant 10 saplings against each roadside tree being axed for this project,” he added.