Tamil Nadu Farmers Association has in a petition to District Collector TN Hariharan requested planting of saplings to compensate for the 1 lakh-odd trees felled as part of road widening.

“The number of trees felled around Avinashi Road, Trichy Road, Mettupalayam Road and Sathy Road as part of widening would be more than 1 lakh. For each tree cut, 10 saplings have to be planted, says the court. National Highways Authority of India had ensured planting 55,440 saplings but has so far planted just 1,518,” the petition says.

Association president S Palaniswamy told The Covai Post: “All of us are aware that many trees were cut during the Kovai-Pollachi road extension process. But none of us knows the income and expenditure that came out of felling of the trees. We also don’t know if the government was benefited by this. It is true that saplings cannot be planted on the highways but there are places where it is possible to plant them. We must plant ten times the number of trees felled.”