Work on transplanting trees begins in Pollachi

Coimbatore: The National Highways authorities, with the help of conservationists, have begun transplanting 60 fully grown trees to make way for a four-lane road at Govindapuram in Pollachi.
The officials said the work on widening the stretch from Avinashi in Tirupur district to Meenkarai near Pollachi on Tamil Nadu- Kerala border was underway at a cost of Rs37 crore. The work has commenced and is progressing in full swing at several places on the stretch.
At Govindapuram, where there were fully grown trees on either side of the two-lane road. On a short stretch of one kilometre from Ganapathipalayam to Govindapuram, there are trees that are obstructing the widening work. While some of the trees are being felled, officials identified about 60 trees that could be transplanted. These trees, belonging to native species like pungan, poovarasan and vaagai, could survive and grow even if they are uprooted and transplanted.
Hence, the NH officials with the help of conservationists have begun transplanting the trees. As part of the process, branches of the trees were chopped off. A circular pit was dug around the trunk to make the uprooting task easy. The trees were uprooted with the help of earthmovers and planted on a parcel of vacant land in the same locality. Officials said they would begin the road work as soon as all the trees were relocated.