Three national highway stretches passing through Pudukottai district are poised to become greener under the Green Tamil Nadu Mission in a bid to reduce the impact of air pollution. The Forest Department in Pudukottai has raised seedlings of native/indigenous tree species at its nurseries for planting them along the identified highway stretches passing through the district.
The national highway stretches from Tirumayam in Pudukottai district to Manamadurai in Sivaganga district, Pudukottai to Thanjavur and from Madurai to Tiruchi have been identified for planting of seedlings in the coming months. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has provided funds for raising seedlings of tree species for planting them on both sides of the highway stretches.
The Forest Department has raised 16,500 seedlings of tree species such as neem, naaval, illupai, vengai, tamarind, aya, pungan, neermaruthu and thunkumunchi vagai for this purpose. The seedlings have been raised at the nurseries in Machuvadi in Pudukottai forest range, Kulathur in Keeranur forest range, and at Thirumayam.
The plan is to plant 15,000 seedlings of native tree species in the Pudukottai district portion of the three national highway stretches, a Forest Department official said and added that the seedlings had been readied and are being maintained at the three nurseries. The roadside spots where the planting of tree species are proposed to be taken up have been identified by the Forest Department. The planting of tree species along the highway stretches falling within the Pudukottai district limit is proposed to be carried out in August-September when there is rain, the official said. Pits would be dug up ahead of planting.
Tree guards would be installed to ensure safety of the seedlings planted along the highway stretches. Watering of the seedlings post planting and their maintenance would be taken care of by the Forest Department for a period of one year after which it would be handed over to the NHAI, the official said.
The objective behind this project under the Green Tamil Nadu Mission was to enhance green cover along the highways and reduce the impact of air pollution. Several trees were axed during the highway widening works earlier and to compensate for that the seedlings of various tree species are now proposed to be planted along the chosen stretches, the official said.
The Forest Department in Thanjavur, Sivaganga, Tiruchi, and Madurai would take up planting of seedlings in their respective portions of the highway stretches. The Green Tamil Nadu Mission launched by the Tamil Nadu government in 2022 aims at increasing the green cover and forest cover from 23.69% to 33%.
