
DINDIGUL: A whopping 2,253 trees were felled in Dindigul district by the government departments between 2022 and 2024. According to an RTI filed by TNIE, the trees were cleared with the approval of a green committee headed by the district collector.
"The approval of the district green committee for protection and management of trees is mandatory for axing trees on both private and government lands. All clearances are analysed by the collector along with RDOs in the respective regions and granted to the departments, majorly the state and national highway departments," a senior official from the district administration said.
Since Dindigul is a key transit for the southern districts, there is a constant need to expand and extend the road, and clearing trees is necessary. For every felled tree, ten saplings are planted on government lands, said Tamil Nadu State Highway Department Workers Union (Dindigul) Secretary K Rajamanickam.
The axed trees are then chopped up and sold to prospective buyers under the supervision of the forest department. An official from the forest department said,"Since the land itself belongs to the highway department and national highway department, we assess the price of the trees. If there are pungai trees, we visit three different wood sawmills, asses the prices and determine the final value. Currently, the price of pungai trees is around Rs 2,500- Rs 3,000 per tonne. During tree clearance, a tender is initiated by the concerned department, and the highest bidder is offered the wood."
The 2,253 trees were cleared in several areas in the district-- 6 (Dindigul City Corporation), 106 (AEE division - Highway Department- Dindigul city), 705 trees (National Highway Department - Palani), 271 (State Highway Department - Vedasandur), 258 trees (State Highway Department - Vedasundar), 301 trees (Zonal office: State highway Department - Dindigul city), 365 trees (Zonal office: Highway Department, Vedasundur), 163 trees (AEE division - State Highway Department - Palani), 21 (National Highway - Dindigul), 19 trees (State Highway Department- Dindigul).