Residents’ efforts to maintain a green canopy street pays off in Chromepet

This June, on World Environment Day, The Hindu invited individuals and organisations who’ve made a difference to the environment and lives around them to send in their applications with details of the work they had done. We will featuring stories of some of those applicants, who have made a tangible impact on the environment and inspired the community through their conservation efforts. Featuring their stories hopefully will initiate relevant conversations about sustainability and encourage more people to act towards a greener living. #OnlyOneEarth

The residents of Nallappa Street in Chromepet never experience the searing heat the residents of the neighbouring streets endure during the hot summer months courtesy of the protective thick foliage the avenue trees provide. Especially coming off the busy Rajendra Prasad Road in Chromepet, dominated by concrete buildings with very few trees, it is likely that any outsider entering Nallappa Street will be left with the impression of being translocated to a green paradise.

The efforts towards greening the street started more than a decade ago when M. Sreedhar along with other like-minded residents in the locality sowed the seeds by planting more than 250 tree saplings on both sides of the streets in 2008. The tireless work of the residents over the years in watering and protecting the saplings has resulted in the street, stretching for nearly half-a-kilometre, turning into a green avenue, despite natural calamities like Vardah and other cyclones over the years uprooting several trees.

The speciality of the greening project in the street is that residents went for native trees rather than exotic options. The small park located in the locality has also been converted into a green canopy.

Mr. Sreedhar said, “Unlike several places in the city where the Gulmohar (Mayflower), which is the usual choice as an avenue tree, we have planted native varieties of Magizham, Shenbagam, Malaivembu, Vembu, Sarakundrai, Jamun and Sappotta trees. The main feature of Magizham is its sturdy branches and the thick leaves creating a green foliage. The street has more than 80 Magizham trees, he added.

Mr. Sreedharan, who is the vice-president of the Federation of Pallavaram Residents’ Welfare Association, through an non-governmental organisation called Vidiyal, has planted more than 85,000 trees in schools, parks and streets.

Dr. Sudha, an executive committee member of the Nallappa Street Residents’ Welfare Association, crediting all the residents of the street for helping maintain the green cover, pointed out that several visitors coming to her house were surprised to see such extensive green cover, not to be seen in any major parts of the city, with a few residents even shifting to Nallappa Street from other places to enjoy the tree-filled aesthetics.

N.P. Raj Kumar, a resident of the street, said, “The uniqueness of the avenue trees in our street has been in planting big trees on one side and small trees on the opposite side so that it does not cause any problems with overhead power lines.”