One lakh more trees to enhance Coimbatore’s green cover

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Corporation is all set to enhance the city’s greenery by planting one lakh trees in its limits in the current financial year.
According to an official source, places available at Vellalore dump yard, water bodies that were developed under the smart city scheme and open space reservation (OSR) lands would be used for the afforestation drive. “Trees will be planted at 100 suitable places in the corporation limits.”
Corporation commissioner M Prathap said 30,000 tree saplings would be planted and raised on the 30 acres that was retrieved at Vellalore dump yard by clearing legacy waste through the biomining process. Pointing out that 10,000 tree saplings were available at the nursery that was developed at the dump yard, he said, “Once they are planted, another set of saplings will be raised.
A sizable number of saplings will be sourced from the forest nursery and through private participation.” Prathap said they had recently tested the soil at the land that was retrieved at Vellalore dump yard through biomining. “We found that the acidic value is higher, making the area unsuitable for tree plantation.
Hence, a layer of soil will be sliced away and filled with vermicompost and organic manure, which were obtained through garbage disposal at the dump yard, to make the area suitable for planting trees.” He said the saplings would be planted at the end of summer, when the weather would be favourable.
Prathap said the space available at Kurichi and Kumaraswamy lakes would also be used to plant trees. “Anywhere between 3,000 and 4,000 saplings could be planted at the two lakes. Similarly, space available at the remaining water bodies in the city limits will be used for the afforestation drive.
The expertise of forest officials will be tapped to select suitable tree varieties.” Another corporation official said the Miyawaki method of tree plantation was carried out on 49 acres and 26 cents spread across 75 places in the city in the last financial year. The same method will be used this fiscal to plant one lakh trees.”
He said 37 parcels of OSR land worth Rs247.70 crore was retrieved in the last financial year. “They have been safeguarded from the encroachers by erecting fences at a cost of Rs1.97 crore.” The official said the work to recover the encroached OSR lands and safeguard them by erecting fences would continue in the current financial year as well