The upcoming Panagal Park station design has been altered to facilitate planting trees.
What’s it about? Chennai Metro has changed the design of the Panagal Park metro in T Nagar to leave 5 metres of thick soil to plant deep-rooted trees. The change has also saved 26 trees from being cut, including a few tall indigenous species in the park. Previously, the Metro was criticised for cutting 221 trees at Thiru Vi Ka Park for the Shenoy Nagar station.
- At T Nagar, part of the station is under the park, the only green space in the locality. The new design with a 5-metre thick soil gap across the entire park was based on Tamil Nadu Forest Department’s recommendations.
- 150 of the 650 trees were identified to be cut. After the redesign, 93 were cut. 25 were translocated, including a few species like the Mangifera indica (a mango tree) and the Syzygium cumini (a jamun tree).
Who said what? Metro spokesperson L Girirajan said they couldn’t save the trees within the D-wall or peripheral walls of the station, but those on the outside would be left alone. Environmentalist and member of the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board D Narasimhan said the underground station should be built to withstand the weight of the trees above.
(Image credits: Venks’ Twitter post)