Representative image
| Photo Credit: H. Vibhu
With the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) cutting down substantial number of trees in the Edapally-Palarivattom NH 66 Bypass corridor as part of its flyover cum underpass construction work, and Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) cutting down 669 trees to widen the road for Kochi metro’s Kakkanad extension, the demand is rife that the two agencies plant ten times the number of trees as part of the mandatory compensatory afforestation scheme.
The lush trees on the NH Bypass once adorned the central median and also either side of the stretch.
Former member of the Tree Committee, Ernakulam, C.M. Joy said that the agencies ought to take steps to plant the mandated number of saplings, and to nurture them till they are able to sustain themselves. “This is all the more crucial now, when the fear is rife that there could be shortage of both water and oxygen due to fall in tree cover and due to rise in temperature levels. This is a definitive threat, including to coming generations.”
Sadly, steps were taken during the past few years to trim the powers of tree committees in the State. This would in turn lead to many more number of trees that provide shade to human beings and others and also act as a check on pollution being mercilessly cut down, unmindful of how much human beings are dependant on trees. In this situation, the Forest Department must be given its due prominence in the committees, said Mr Joy, who was also president of Kerala Nature Protection Council.
On their part, the NHAI and the KMRL say that measures would be taken to plant ten times the number of trees that were cut down for the flyover cum underpass and the metro-rail extension projects.
Asserting that ten times the number of trees that were cut down on Civil Line Road and other roads would be planted and nurtured as per social-forestry guidelines near the metro’s casting yard in Kalamassery, metro sources said that a bulk of the trees were cut as part of the road widening project. The others were cut to create space to relocate utility cables and pipelines that were shifted from the centre of the road, they added.
Sources in the NHAI said that the funds needed to plant the mandated number of trees was deposited with the social forestry authorities, prior to the commencement of work on a pair of flyover cum underpasses on either side of Edapally Junction. It has to be seen whether smaller trees can be replanted on the median, they said.
Published – July 14, 2025 09:02 am IST
