VELLORE : Six tamarind trees, over 100 years old, were replanted to make way for a flyover at Ariyur. Conceding to the increasing objections to road-widening projects that eat into the green cover, the state highways department has started a pilot project in Vellore to uproot the trees and replant them in another place.
To reduce the traffic congestion in Vellore-Sripuram-Ariyur road, the department recently began work on Ariyur flyover at an estimated cost of `15.9 crore.
On Sunday, six tamarind trees were uprooted and replanted on Vellore-Ariyur road.
Elaborating the exercise, an official said they made a pit around the trees as part of the uprooting process.
“The soil around the tree had been removed till the tail of the taproot. The branch roots were cut at a length of two to three inches. The tree were then uprooted using two cranes, each with 12 MT capacity,” the official said.
It was replanted in a three-feet deep pit. “After filling the pit with manure and natural soil, the trees were planted,” the official added.
Sreenivasan, Assistant Director of State Highways, Vellore, said the exercise was carried out to prevent the felling of trees in future. The expense incurred for the process was included in the project estimation, he added. “After studying the results of this project, the same procedure will be followed in future,” he said.
According to official estimation, there are about 30 big tamarind trees and more than 20 small trees, including neem trees and Pungamia and Portia (Poovarasam), all of which will have to be felled to make a way for the flyover.
Officials added that while most trees were aged about 50 years, a few of them were more than 100 years old.