Chennai: The city may lose much of its greenery raised on medians on important roads, with the Chennai corporation deciding to do away with median models and replace them with concrete wall-like structures. Corporation officials say this move is aimed at increasing the width of the road but environmentalists fear that the green cover in the city will further shrink.The bus route roads department of the local body has started demolishing these medians with plants and is setting up concrete structures.
“The median model (with plants) requires more space – 70 cm to 1 metre width - in the middle of the road. The new concrete structure model requires just 60 cm. Therefore, they were opted for to free up space for decongesting traffic,” an official explained.The work is currently taken up in various parts of the city including Tiruvanmiyur, Adyar and Besant Nagar. The department will soon take up the project in Velachery.
Also, concrete is comparatively cheaper than the granite used in the plant-median model, officials said.Motorists say that since the plant-median wall is lower, they have a tough time with the headlight of the vehicles coming in the opposite direction.The corporation has another reason for adopting the new model.Often, people jump over the plants to cross the road and in the process get hit by speeding vehicles, says Prof D. Narasimhan, center for floristic research, department of botany, Madras Christian College.
This issue would have been solved if there was pedestrian crossing every 500 metres, he said, adding that the absence of signal points at pedestrian crossing is also a topic for discussion. In any case, these plants were absorbing pollutants like dust and carbon dioxide from the vehicles besides giving visual relief to the public, Prof Narasimhan continues. Mostly clerodendron shrub varieties and grass were grown in these medians. The corporation has had a challenge watering and maintaining these plants due to lack of manpower.
“The local body could have considered having small-width medians with easy-to-maintain plants than going for an alternative, as the plant-median model is pleasing to the eye and soothes our senses on busy cityroads,” said Shobha Menon, one of the founder members of NGO Nizhal, engaged in promoting tree culture in urban areas.
