Coimbatore: Road widening work on Vadavalli–Marudhamalai Road stretch in the city is likely to be further delayed with the Madras high court directing the Highways Department not to fell the trees on roadside along the stretch.The order was passed by a bench comprising justice N Sathish Kumar and justice T Bharatha Chakravarthy on Jan 30 while hearing a petition submitted by activist S Muralidharan. Muralidharan in his petition said 19 banyan trees, nine peepal trees, 107 palmyra trees and nearly 100 other native tree species were likely to be felled for the road widening project. According to him, the trees form a microhabitat for birds, owl species, small mammals and other nocturnal wildlife. He said the road widening should be limited up to the Swamy Ayyappan Temple on Marudhamalai Road. The petitioner submitted a reply from the Highways Department, which stated that land acquisition was being carried out through the Revenue Department following the govt approval to convert the two-lane road from Vadavalli to the Govt Law College into a four-lane road. The department also said the work could not be shunned once the land acquisition was completed. A highways official said the trees were being felled for development work and that as per regulations 10 times more trees would be planted in the area. The official said they were planning to approach the court.
