The Vellore Corporation will plant native saplings on the banks of the Palar River to prevent waterlogging

A company official says the accumulated waste at the landfill will be removed and saplings will be planted in the area. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

The Vellore Corporation will plant saplings, mostly native species, at the erstwhile dumping ground on the banks of the Palar River at Kagithapattarai near the Vellore Collectorate to prevent soil erosion and waterlogging in nearby residential areas.

Corporation officials said the civic body had been maintaining a small dumping ground on the river bank to dump the waste generated in zone 1 and 2 for more than three decades. The company consists of 60 departments in four zones with a population of eight thousand people. “The accumulated waste at the dump site along the river is being removed through bio-mining. Saplings will be planted in the open space to provide much-needed green cover in the area,” R. Lakshman, Commissioner, Vellore Corporation, told The Hindu.

At present, 240 tons of waste are generated daily within the limits of citizens. For many years, most of the waste has been treated at the dumping grounds at the Saduperi lake and along the Palar. “Besides planting trees, a children’s park should be created at the landfill site to serve as a recreational spot for residents who have to go to Vellore Fort to avail such a facility,” said G. Padma, a resident.

Civic officials said two acres of land on the river bank was being used as a dumping ground. Thanks to biomining, about 50,000 cubic meters of waste is removed from the landfill along the river. The work will be completed in the coming weeks.

As part of the rejuvenation of the landfill area, saplings of native species will be planted to restore soil fertility on land that may have lost nutrients for years due to the constant dumping of garbage. Corporation officials said soil tests have also been conducted to plant saplings along the river to ensure they are suitable for local weather conditions. Women workers enrolled under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme were roped in to plant saplings, which came from the forest department.

Varieties like vaagai (Albizia lebbeck), vembu (Azadirachta indica), mantharai (Bauhinia purpurea), punnai (Calophyllum inophyllum), kalyana murungai (Erythrina variegata) and arasamaram (Ficus religiosa) were planted under the initiative.

Civil staff will be attached to water the plants twice a week for one year. The tree guards, which were removed after two years, were provided to protect the saplings from damage before maintenance work began by the Water Resources Department (WRD).

Published – 12 Jun 2026 05:30 IST