The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) State youth wing secretary V. Easwaran has condemned the move by the State Highways Department to give space for preparing concrete mixture on a land that was earmarked here to plant saplings.
According to Mr. Easwaran, as many as 951 trees were cut here for road works by the National Highways wing of the State Highways Department in 2011-2012.
According to a Supreme Court order, for every tree cut, 10 saplings should be planted. However, the department had not planted any sapling and hence, he filed a case against the department. The Madras High Court issued an order in this regard and the department assured the court that it will plant saplings on its land on Avinashi Road and Sathyamangalam Road here. It planted about 4,000 saplings on Avinashi Road land in 2016 and installed drip irrigation facilities to water the saplings.
However, now, just adjacent to the area where the saplings are planted, the department has given space for other purposes and concrete mixing machines have been installed. “Pits were dug there to plant about 1,200 saplings. The saplings were not planted and the land has been given for construction material preparation. This is in violation of the assurance given to the High Court. Further, even the drip irrigation lines have been removed in the area where the saplings were planted,” he alleged. The entire area should be used for sapling planting only, he said.
Mr. Easwaran said if the Highways Department continues to permit work on the site for preparation of construction materials, he will take legal action for contempt of court order.
“I took up the issue with the officials on Friday and they stopped the concrete mixing work. They have sought two days time. The officials have assured me that they will stop the concrete mixing work on the site,” he said.
Another official of the department said that of the 10 acres available with it on Avinashi Road it planted saplings on three acres. It has leased out only 1.5 acres for two years for use by the company that will construct a flyover on Avinashi road. Further, the lease is under the condition that the workers at the site will take care of the saplings planted so far.
