Coimbatore: Highway department has begun cutting down of trees for road extension project of 4-lane Pollachi-Dindigul highway.
Coimbatore: Highway department has begun cutting down of trees for road extension project of 4-lane Pollachi-Dindigul highway.
Pollachi acts an important junction from Coimbatore to the southern districts including Dindigul, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi. In 2016, the Pollachi-Coimbatore road was converted into a four-lane road and is currently in operation.
The National Highways Department began the next phase of the four-lane road widening project from Pollachi to Dindigul last month. Hence the cutting down of trees has been initiated in the Pollachi-Coimbatore Road at the Cheran Nagar to Shakti Mill stretch.
Until now, more than 25 trees have been cut down in the first phase within a distance of about two kilometers. Highways officials also said that road widening is also underway. Since thousands of old trees were cut down for the road widening work from Pollachi to Coimbatore, it caused a great dissatisfaction amongst the environmental activists and the public.
That being the case, more trees are going to be cut down in this phase of the road widening project. Hence environmental activists have demanded that during the road widening work, trees that are not obstructing the road should not be cut down and insisted the government to plant and maintain new saplings to compensate the loss.