Trapped in gaps of tank toe wall, tamarind trees struggle for survival near Madurai

At least seven fully-grown Tamarind trees along Tirumangalam-Srivilliputtur highway at S. Ammapatti are struggling for their survival with the concrete toe wall of an irrigation tank blocking the horizontal growth of their trunks.

The trees that are standing for at least four decades were planted on the bund of S. Ammapatti irrigation tank falling on the right side of the old highway running through T. Kallupatti.

Over a dozen tamarind trees that are standing tall for several years had spread their branches over the tank and also over the highway providing a partial pale emerald canopy.

With the highway being narrow and winding through sharp turns at this particular stretch, the toe wall is said to have been constructed some seven years back to keep the earth of the bund intact and prevent it from falling on the highway edge running very closer to the bund.

The six-foot-high wall was constructed for around 100 metres.

Since some of the tamarind trees were right on the alignment of the wall or very close it, the engineers had left some two-foot-wide gaps on the concrete structure to allow the trees to find space for their trunk to grow on all four sides without any obstacle.

However, over the years, the trunk of the trees have outgrown the space of the gaps in the wall and were fighting for space. The strong trunks have successfully resisted the hard wall so much so that the walls have started to crack in few spots. The roots have also spread into the wall and forced portion of the concrete structure to fall. However, the wall has still strangled the trunks from further growth.

Squeezed by the wall, the trunks have grown on the other two sides — in the earth bund and also on the open space outside the wall.

“I have been seen these trees ever since my childhood. The walls have come up only some seven years back. It is hindering the free growth of the trees. Some trees have fallen dead already,” said 47-year-old local resident, Ganesan.

A road user had a miraculous escape recently after a huge branch of the dead tree suddenly came down crashing from the bund, he added.

He wanted the officials to act fast and save the remaining trees from the stranglehold of the concrete wall at the earliest.