T’puram: The state govt has cut many large rain trees on the Chalai govt high school campus and has built a state headquarters of Samagra Shiksha Keralam, ignoring the eco-sensitive nature of the vast green campus at the heart of the city. The building was inaugurated on March 11.In addition to the destruction of green cover, converting the open space into a built-up area poses a risk to neighbourhood because it is in the flood plains of Killi River. The open space played a role in absorbing and holding the floodwater during the rain because the neighbourhood is thickly populated. When the water level rises in the Killi River, the area where the new building has come up will flood during rains, said Anita Sharma of Tree Walk, an NGO. Tree Walk held a survey and gave a comprehensive report detailing the flora and fauna and the importance of the green lung in the school campus to the govt in July 2021 when they came to know about plans to construct buildings on the campus. The report submitted by the NGO says that the campus, with its green cover, is the only such area in the congested, crowded and polluted locality. There were 36 species of plants and trees that made it a green lung. A 2014 survey by city-based naturalist group Waders and Warblers documented 48 species of birds on the school campus, of which 14 are migrant birds and 10 are rare ones. Some of the birds found were Indian pond heron, cattle egret, little cormorant, spotted owl, brown hawk owl, white-throated kingfisher, chestnut-headed bee-eater, and rufous treepie. The report also suggested that the campus had the potential to be converted into a biodiversity park. The city has already lost many of its trees in the last one year because of the absence of an efficient tree committee meant to protect green cover.
