Kochi Metro’s Kakkanad extension to cost city’s green cover dear

About 80 shade trees on Palarivattom-Kaloor stretch cut down; more to be axed

The trunks and branches of decades-old trees, which provided shade to pedestrians, can be seen heaped on the roadside as the once tree-lined Palarivattom-Kaloor stretch in the city is being cleared of its green cover.

The second phase of expansion of the Kochi metro rail to Kakkanad will see a large number of shade trees being cut down in the city.

As many as 80 trees, most of them over four-decades-old, have been cut down between the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium and the Palarivattom flyover junction during the last few weeks. More trees would be cut down for the widening of the road and the construction of the metro track, according to officials of the social forestry wing of the Forest Department.