Thrissur: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) cut off  several banana plants situated on a plot adjacent to the Mannuthy-Vadakkencherry national highway. The highway authorities removed the plants which were cultivated by Mannuthy native Manoj Menon, on the front side of his house.   

A few years ago, the authorities had acquired around ten cents of Manoj’s land for highway purposes. But a major stretch of the land had remained unused. Slowly, the area started becoming a hub for anti-social activities, as a corrective measure, the house owner, who was passionate about farming, decided to use the stretch for cultivating banana plants.

The practice continued for five years until very recently when the highway authorities arrived at the spot and cut off all the fully mature plants. The officials had arrived at a time when Manoj Menon and his family were away from home. The house owner also said that the authorities had carried back a considerable number of plantains along with them. He also alleged that they did not cut the banana plants and the bushy areas in the adjacent plots.

Meanwhile, in their response to the incident, NHAI made it clear that they hold no bias and reasserted that they were strict about clearing all the trees and bushes which were lying in close proximity with the roads.