CHENNAI: The Kancheepuram district administration’s decision to allot part of an 7.5-acre site in Sriperumbudur, home to at least 3,500 young trees, for a Regional Transport Office (RTO) has drawn criticism from environmental activists. They have urged the government to preserve the green space and build an eco-park, saying it would be a boon for Sriperumbudur, which is surrounded by industries.
According to activists, following a request from the then Sriperumbudur town panchayat, volunteers, students and local residents have been planting saplings on the thoppu poramboke land since 2019 and named it Ezhilvanam. While activists claim the site now has over 5,000 trees, official estimates by the municipality put the figure at around 3,500.
“There was a proposal to build an RTO here in 2021, when the land already had thousands of well-maintained saplings of different varieties and rich biodiversity with different species of birds and butterflies,” said K Suryamohan of Aran, a volunteer group involved in developing Ezhilvanam. Volunteers filed petitions against the move and the plan didn’t progress then.
Recently, during a district green committee meeting, when the demand for an eco-park was raised, the administration said approval had been given to construct an RTO and they were awaiting a government order to change the land classification, he said. Suryamohan added that the administration has removed the Ezhilvanam nameboard, replaced it with ‘Regional Transport Office,’ and barred volunteers from entering.
Officials from the local body and district administration said the site is still open to the public. On the RTO plan, a district official said, “RTO should be accessible to the public and we couldn’t find another suitable site. We will also look into the volunteers’ demand.”