Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko began clearing ‘seemai karuvelam’ trees in Mettamalai village, near Sattur, in Virudhunagar district on Saturday.

Speaking to media persons, he said that the High Court Bench in Madurai had directed the Tamil Nadu government to remove the Prosopis juliflora or karuvelam trees, which were highly invasive and a villain to the eco-system.

The veteran politician had personally taken up the initiative and appeared in the HC Bench and presented facts about the immediate need to remove the karuvelam trees. Joining him, his party functionaries and volunteers started removing the trees in the village.

The MDMK had in the past three decades done yeomen services to the people of Tamil Nadu and one such initiative now was to protect the environment, Mr Vaiko said and added that for the future generations to live in an environment friendly system, such menace (karuvelam trees) should be eliminated from its roots as it would spoil not only the ground water but lead to desertification if allowed to grow.

Asked to comment about the Mekedatu dam row, he said that it was the Union government and some BJP leaders who had sown the seeds a decade ago for the project. “We should not blame the Karnataka government alone for this. If the project goes on as per the designs of the Karnataka government, our delta region may go for a complete toss and turn into a desert,” he said with apprehension.

On TVK’s performance, he said that it needs to be given more time. Critical issues are there and they cannot be solved overnight. Be it women issue or unemployment crisis or others, the government should be given a reasonable time frame.

Expressing concern over remarks on the social media about the MDMK by the DMK functionaries, Mr Vaiko said that it was not in good taste. Even today the party was an ally with the DMK. “We had worked tirelessly for the victory of DMK candidates across TN in the general election. Many of the allies from the DMK front have left. The MDMK’s general council, which is on June 27, would decide its future course,” he summed up.