Across India, in the name of roads and national highways built to match population growth, lakhs of ancient trees are being cut down every day. The painful tragedy is that 80% of those trees are more than a hundred years old.
Courts and the National Green Tribunal have repeatedly stressed that if a mature tree is cut down, at least ten saplings should be planted and cared for in its place.
But environmentalists have long accused the highways department of cutting down even trees that are over a hundred years old without a second thought, while not bothering to consider planting and nurturing saplings in compensation.
Likewise, now that technologies and facilities have become available to uproot even very large trees along with their roots and replant them in another location, environmentalists are calling on the central and state governments to implement this.
But governments that speak about the country’s development do not speak about the destruction of nature. It was in this context that Dharani Thiruvenkatam from Chidambaram in Cuddalore district, with the help of modern technology and friends, saved seven trees that were about to be cut down by the Highways Department.
Dharani Thiruvenkatam runs a company in Chennai that rents out generators to factories. He was traveling from Chennai to Ranipet on business.
At that time, the Highways Department, which was cutting down trees for road expansion, had marked the trees that were to be felled next. Seeing this, Dharani Thiruvenkatam said that those trees should not be cut and that he would himself uproot them and grow them elsewhere.
However, the staff there refused his request and said that permission had to be obtained from the National Highways Department.
After that, Dharani Thiruvenkatam met with highway department officials and said he would uproot the trees and replant them in another location. Accepting his request, the highway department officials granted permission on the condition that they be removed within the specified number of days.
After that, Dharani sought the help and advice of agriculture department officials on uprooting and replanting the trees with their roots intact, and arranged three cranes through friends and brothers.
With their help, three banyan trees, one peepal tree, and three date palm trees were uprooted and loaded onto long trucks. Traveling about 200 kilometers from Ranipet, the trees were taken to Veerasozhagan village, the native village of Dharani Thiruvengadam.
There, on land he owns, he has revived the trees with the help of agriculture department officials and tree enthusiasts. Praise has been pouring in for Dharani Thiruvengadam and his relatives and friends.