A 700-year-old Banyan tree in Telangana was gifted a new lease of life through saline drip. As a part of the rejuvenation of the world’s second largest Banyan tree in Pillalamarri of Mahabubnagar district in Telangana, the tree was given chemical drips to save it from termite infestation, reported ANI.
The tree covers three acres and is a major tourist attraction but has been closed to the public since last December, after one of its termite-infected branches came crashing down, reported Telangana Today.
Officials put up saline bottles, similar to saline drips for patients, to inject the chemical into the stems after a mechanism to pump the fluid failed, according to The Times of India. The bottles of diluted chemical Chloropyrifos have been put up for every two metres, as per TOI.
Mahabubnagar District Forest Officer Chukka Ganga Reddy told the Times of India, “We diluted the Chlorpyrifos chemical and started pushing it into the stem by keeping holes, but it didn’t work out. The solution was coming back instantly. Later we started injecting a solution like a saline drip. This process has been effective. Secondly, we are watering the roots with the diluted solution to kill the termites. And in a physical method, we are building concrete structures to support the collapsing heavy branches.”
The Times of India reported that after the tourism department was not successful in reviving the tree using chemical treatment, the forest department took back the protection measures to rejuvenate the tree.
(With inputs from Times of India)
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