A government school in northern Kerala’s Kasargod district welcomed a special 16-year-old. This was a mango tree, planted by noted poet and environmentalist Sugathakumari in Kasargod town in 2006, listed to be among the trees being cut down for highway development.
After a group of nature lovers objected to its felling, the tree—which had become an honorary memorial for Sugathakumari after her death in 2020—was remarked to be transplanted. The authorities then decided to replant the tree, which had been named Payaswini by the late poet, at the nearby Adkathbail Government Upper Primary School.
The exercise of uprooting the tree occurred on Wednesday, under the supervision of forest department officials. The tree was uprooted, without causing much damage to its roots, using earth moving heavy equipment by workers of Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society after shearing off some of its branches.
The tree was then taken—in an ad-hoc procession using the heavy equipment—to the school situated about two kilometres from its original place.
Teachers and students received the tree with loud cheers; the tree was then planted within the school premises among showers of flower petals.
The Kasargod People's Forum led the campaign to save the tree from being cut down. Environmental forums and students joined the campaign to save Sugathakumari’s ‘Payaswini’, which had been named after a nearby river.
The district has been witnessing a lot of tree hewing for highway widening, said Kasargod-based social activist Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan. Recently, another popular tree, Oppumaram (signature tree) that had been the spot for many agitations, including one against use of endosulfan, was also axed for highway development.
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