No permit without planting trees for new buildings in Thrissur

THRISSUR: The Kodungallur municipality in Thrissur district of Kerala proposed  an innovative rule that every newly constructed building will need to plant at least two trees in order to get the building’s permit.

According to the rule, buildings that have more than 1,500 square feet building area need to plant atleast two trees. The civic body will only grant the building number if this condition is met. The municipality plans to implement the new rule in this month.

The rule will be implemented in two phases. “When people come to get the application from the local body for seeking building permit, they will have to bring the plan of the house. At that time, they will have to mark the place they have allotted to plant the trees. In the second phase, after the building is constructed, officials from the municipality will inspect the place before allotting house numbers. The officials will then check whether trees are planted in the marked areas,” said KR Jaithran, chairman,Kodungallur municipality. The municipality will also deliver guidelines for those houses, which have less land area to plant saplings of shrubs or flowering plants. Approximately, there are 1,140 house, presently been constructed for financially weak families in Kodungallur with the aid of municipality. “We will give tree saplings to these houses free of cost,” said the chairman.