“Please make way for the tree. Ladies and gentlemen, the tree is coming your way. Please step aside,’’ and so blared the loudspeaker strapped on the back of motor-cyclist, leaving motorists, bystanders, and plenty of people walking on the roadside staring in a mix of disbelief and incredulity. If what they saw left them dumbfounded, it’s because transplantation of a tree, that is uprooting a full-grown tree and replanting it in a different place, is not an every-day phenomenon.
In Tirupathur district of Tamil, over 1,000 trees are being transplanted to a different location (because of an official necessity). And the man supervising this extremely unusual, if not downright unprecedented, operation is the District Collector of Tirupathur, Mr. M P Sivanarul.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Sivanarul gave details of the tree transplantation drive currently underway, while also sharing photographs and videos of the process.
THESE TREES WILL NOT BE CUT DOWN
Before coming to the actual act of tree movements through highway, let’s focus on what necessitated the entire operation. Soon after Tirupathur district came into being, there emerged a need for a `master collectorate complex’, one that could hold 40 different departments of the district. The area zeroed in for the complex held, at that moment, the revenue land and the divisional office of the forest department. But showcasing this chosen piece of land were over 1,000 fully-grown trees- and to build the complex, these had to be cut.
The easy way out would have been to chop off the tress and go ahead with the construction of the proposed eight-story building. But that would also be a heartless way to deal with the issue, apart from the obvious environmental blow it would trigger.
This is how the matter stood when the District Collector Mr. Sivanarul decided to replant all these trees to a different location. As he old Indian Masterminds, “An eight storied building is being constructed, where 40 departments will be housed. The challenge we came across was in the form of 1,000 odd trees which had to be removed. We decided to protect them, and accordingly proposed the government to transplant these trees instead of cutting them.”
But transplanting a grown tree, from one location to another, is easier said than a day. While speed is obviously a main requirement for the operation, there are others too: carrying `mother-soil’ from the original location to the new one to ensure that the tree adjusts itself to new surroundings, as also use of trucks (for transportation), JCBs (for uprooting) and large manpower.
Even when all these requirements were met, so Mr. Sivanarul was told by the experts, the success rate of transplantation remained 50 to 60 percent.
THE TRANSPLANTATION DRIVE
But the District Collector remained undeterred. While initiating the project, the administration asked for help from people who had expertise in transplanting trees. For this, Mr. Sivanarul contacted a few other District Collectors in Tamil Nadu who had already transplanted some trees in the past. An NGO, consisting of environmentalists from the Bharathiar University, also came on board. The person chosen for coordinating the project in the district is Syed Kattuva, an environmentalist from the Bharathiar University.
Mr. Sivanarul said, “We found these NGO people suitable to carry out the transplantation drive, and soon after finding the right place, they started transplanting trees. Our main aim was to protect as many trees as possible and transplantation was the most appropriate way to save them.”
The tree transplantation drive started on December 4, 2020, while the second batch of transplantation took place on January 8, 2021. As of now, a total of 200 trees have been transplanted. Mr. Sivanarul said, “Almost 95 percent of the non-scheduled trees which were transplanted have started growing and is very encouraging for all of us. 30 trees have been planted in my own official Collector’s house and some of them have been planted in the PWD premises and Horticulture department premises.”
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
This initiative also created a buzz in the district. Firstly, when the tree used to be carried from one place to another, a person in a two-wheeler makes an announcement on the mike to make way for the tree so that the traffic is regulated and people also get to know about the initiative.
Mr. Sivanarul said, “People started making way for the tree and also appreciated us for carrying out such a noble initiative.”
He added, “the convoy in which the tree is transplanted consists of a two-wheeler from which the announcement is made. Behind it is the truck carrying the tree and the third one is the truck with mother soil. While transplanting we ensured that the mother soil is also transplanted so that the tree even in a new environment it will get its own soil. Lastly, a JCB also joins the convoy for any issues in between the route.
Also, the forest department premises where the new Collector’s office is being built has been there for more than 60-70 years, so a sentimental feeling has been attached with the people living in that area. Therefore, they were also satisfied after hearing that the trees will not be cut and will be transplanted.
NAMING THE TREES
As the task of this magnitude has been initiated for the first time in Tamil Nadu, the district administration has announced this scheme as ‘Rehabilitation of trees’. This creates awareness among people that a tree is also a living entity.
Mr. Sivanarul launched another initiative: that of giving names to the transplanted tree, so as to generate emotional connection in the people for the trees. One of the replanted trees has been named `Raja’. Mr. Sivanarul explained, “The objective of the initiative is also to create a sentimental feeling for transplanted trees. Soon another trend started and the staff of the district administration also took part in the initiative.’’
So the Commercial Taxes Minister Mr. K.C. Veeramani named a tree ‘Padmisini’, in memory of his deceased wife. District Revenue Officer, Mr. Pandian has named a tree replanted by him as ‘Chengiskan’, and Mr. Wilson Rajasekar, Personal Assistant to the District Collector, has named a tree as ‘Grace’ in fond memory of his deceased Mother.
Very soon, children from the nearby karate school were also seen christening the trees. The idea behind this uncommon move is also that the people and officials who have named these trees would often visit them, even become their caretakers in times to come.
Not a bad move, Mr. Sivanarul. One hopes that this excellent endeavour would prompt people in other parts of India to do something on these lines. Nowadays, a tree is normally looked upon as a stationary part of the landscape- and not as a living being which actually it is.
