Berhampur: The Ganjam district administration on Tuesday launched the ‘Free the Tree’ campaign from silk city by removing nails from trunks of roadside trees.Several city traders had hammered nails into roadside trees to hang advertisement boards.On the first day of the campaign carried out jointly by the district administration and Berhampur Municipal Corporation, the authorities removed several advertisement boards, placards, tree guards, nails and other materials from roadside trees near Old Bus-stand area to SBI Chowk.MLA (Berhampur) K Anil Kumar, Berhampur mayor Sanghamitra Dalei, Ganjam collector Keerthi Vasan V, BeMC commissioner A Sasya Reddy, sub-collector Avinash Kumar, divisional forest officer (DFO), Berhampur, Sunny Khokkar, and several environmental activists joined in the campaign.‘Free the Tree’ campaign launched from BeMC area would be carried out in other towns across the district along with the ‘Aama Ganjam, Swatch Ganjam’, a sanitation campaign, said the collector. “We created awareness about harmful effects on hammering nails into trees while removing them. From tomorrow, we will impose a fine on people who nail the trees,” said BeMC commissioner. She said Rs 1,000 fine would be imposed on the person who is found driving nails into trees. The civic body imposed similar penalty on a businessman on Tuesday.The DFO said longevity of a tree is reduced by infections the nails hammered into it triggers.Sibaram Panigrahy of Sabuja Bahini, an organisation actively engaged in removing nails from trees and treating their wounds in the city in association with BeMC, said, “A tree which could live for 50 years is likely to die in 10 to 20 years.”He said they have removed nails and other materials wrapped around trees through the tree ambulance, which they launched two years ago in association with the civic body. The campaign would be intensified in the coming days, as the district administration and BeMC joined in the drive, he said.