COIMBATORE: The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the State Highways Department to plant 4,770 tree saplings as replacement for the 470 trees that were felled recently as part of the widening of the Avinashi-Nariyampalli stretch of the Avinashi to Mettupalayam road.
Priority should be given to native species such as Neem, Tamarind etc, ordered the tribunal.
"The State Highways Department shall ensure the full execution of the compensatory plantation plan (4,770 saplings) within the next two planting seasons with priority to native species such as Neem, Tamarind, Poongan, Kadamba, Naval, Mahilam alongside other resilient species as appropriate. The State Highways Department shall undertake the responsibility for maintaining all saplings for a period of at least five years or till they grow to a considerable size," the bench said.
The tasks include their watering, fencing and replacing any saplings that fail.
The tribunal bench comprising judicial member Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati took up the matter based on a suo motu cognizance of a news report on the felling of trees for the Phase-1 of the road-widening project.
"The State Highways Department, which axed 470 trees on the 13-kilometre Avinashi-Nariyampalli stretch last month, has now commenced the removal of an additional 1,342 trees on the Nariyampalli-Mettupalayam stretch," the bench said and noted that highways department officials in its status report stated that the tree-felling activities were duly approved by the Green Committee.
The State Highways Department will be widening the two-lane 38km stretch from Avinashi in Tirupur district to Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district into a four-lane highway at a cost of Rs 226 crore.
"A geo-tagged database of trees felled, saplings planted, and their status shall be maintained and made publicly accessible on the department's official website. Moreover, any further tree felling under this project shall be allowed only upon verification of compliance with the afforestation targets already undertaken," the bench further directed.
"From the status report of the State Highways Department, this Tribunal notes that the project in question involves a significant infrastructure upgrade — from a seven-metre-wide two-lane road to a 16.2-metre-wide four-lane highway — which is expected to ease traffic congestion and contribute to regional development. However, such developmental activities must not come at the irreversible cost of ecological balance. Further, permissions from forest and revenue authorities, based on due verification, were secured prior to tree removal," the bench observed.