MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday issued a notice to the state government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against felling of over 1,400 trees in Panchapur Green Park in Tiruchy district for the purpose of establishing a wholesale vegetable market.
The litigant, K Chandrasekar of Tiruchy, stated in his petition that in 2013, the Tiruchy corporation had constructed the park sprawling 22 acres from the Rs 50 lakh that it had collected through crowd funding and one crore rupees allotted by the government, at Ponmalai Kottam in Panchapur near Madurai-Tiruchy highway in the district.
The park was equipped with facilities like a walking track, children's play area, etc in addition to 1,450 trees planted in and around it, Chandrasekar added. But due to lack of maintenance, including overgrown bushes the park has been damaged and rendered unfit for use for the past five years.
Although Rs 7.8 lakh was collected through crowd funding at the time of the park's establishment, for its maintenance, the corporation has not taken any steps to restore it, and instead passed a resolution on June 30, 2023, for its demolition in order to build a vegetable market, Chandrasekar further stated.
Stating that the corporation has recently established a vegetable market near Panchapur bus stand with 836 shops, a cold storage room, canteen, and parking facilities, the litigant requested the court to forbear the authorities from cutting down 1,432 trees in the park, and make them drop the proposal of changing the park into a market. While hearing the plea, a bench of justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan issued a notice to the municipal administration department and Tiruchy corporation, among others, and adjourned the case to January 29.