Chennai, Nov 25 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary has directed the forest department and other departments concerned to speed up the process to remove the invasive species in the Nilgiris district that was harming the environment.

This was following a strong order from the Madras High court division bench on Thursday. The bench comprising Justices N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy questioned the government for the delay in removing the invasive species.

The bench also informed the state government that if the invasive species were not removed in a time-bound manner, contempt proceedings would be initiated against the government.

Tamil Nadu government informed the court that 191 locations were identified with invasive species and the removal work has commenced at 16 locations. The bench then asked the government to immediately call tenders for removal of the species in other places and observed that the process be expedited with immediate effect.

The division bench of the Madras High Court also directed the state government to file a compliance report before December 22, 2022.

Sources in the state government told IANS that the tender process will commence immediately and work finalised in ten days so that the government can file a compliance report before the deadline set by the court.