Vijayawada: Official apathy has killed more than 30 Cuban royal palm trees. Though the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is spending alot of money on development of greenery in the city, the officials are not bothered to water the dyi-ng trees citing the reason that they were being maintained by the National Highways Authority of India. The Cuban royal palm trees planted as part of the beautification and greenery development at the Kanakadurga Varadhi wh-ere the two national highways merge. This is the entry point to the Vijayawada city from the south. The traffic islands under the flyover were developed with grass and palm trees. It was a beautiful site till a few days ago with lush green grass and wavering palm trees.
The site now looks like a dreaded island with no trace of greenery. All the green grass has vanished and the palm trees are also dead. The VMC workers on Friday have removed the remains of the trees completely making the entire site look like a small desert. When contacted, additional director of horticulture in the VMC Mr Pradeep Kumar said that the trees were being maintained by the NHAI and the VMC is no way concerned. They have been removing the dead trees as they look ugly at the entrance of the city. As there is no bore facility to water the trees and also lack of proper water supply might have led to the withering away of the trees, he observed.
The interesting fact here is that this location almost lies on Bundar canal bund to the north and the Krishna river flows just a few meters away on the south. Mr Pradeep further said that the highway junction will be developed again as the Amaravati Development Corporation has come up with a new plan.
