Month-long tree plantation drive kick started, over 10K sapling planted on Day 1

02nd July, 2018

Thane: Armed with small and big saplings, shovels, and in some cases sacks of fertile soil, hundreds of civic and administrative officials, environmentalists, citizens, students and many others flocked to various parts of the lake-city to be a part of the first day of the month-long mega tree plantation drive.

While the state-wide 13 crore tree plantation movement was inaugurated by the chief minister in Thane’s Kalyan district on Sunday morning, hundreds of citizens and officials were simultaneously doing their bit to bring back the lost greenery of this urban space.

“We have an active citizens’ group that takes care of the plants that have been planted over the years in our vicinity regularly. In an attempt to allow our children to experience the process of planting saplings and conserving them, and also join in the state-wide tree plantation drive, we organised this event in the garden of the Lake-City Malayalee Welfare Association office in Lokpuram,” said Sashikumar Nair, a city based environmentalist.

“While we had a group of 14 children and around 50 adults, we were able to plant only 12 saplings due to the shortage of space. However, we made sure that the kids got to plant the trees and adults guided them. We also ensured that all these saplings were of fruit bearing trees like neem, amla and jambul,” Nair added.

While citizen groups like these joined in the drive on a small scale in scattered parts across the city, the officials of the Thane Municipal Corporation, forest department and FDCM planted over 10,000 saplings in the Parsik retibundar, Kharegaon and Kolshet area on Sunday, thus contributing to the districts month’s goal of 33lakh tree plantations.

Although this tri-party has set a goal of 50,000 tree plantation in the city by this month-end, this is a huge step down from last year’s record of 1 lakh tree plantation, which took place in the various parts of the district, mainly including Shil and Kausa.

“The main requirement for tree plantation is space, and it is very difficult to find vacant spaces in urban pockets. Despite this, we will be planting a total of at least 50,000 saplings in the Parsik, retibundar and Kolshet waterfront areas. Citizens will also be planting trees in their own societies and schools and joining in,” said a civic official.

As part of this mega drive, initiated by the state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, which will see a plantation of 13 crore saplings in the state, the Thane district has been given a target of 33.5 lakh plantation of local plant species all through the forest, urban and rural pockets within in.

The Thane forest department has, however, raised their target to 35 lakh trees, most of which will be planted and talukas including Murbad, Badlapur, Bhiwandi, etc. Each sapling planted as part of this 31-day plantation drive is being geo-tagged so as to assure its health in the months to come.

The main requirement for tree plantation is space, and it is difficult to find vacant spaces in urban pockets. Despite this, we will be planting 50,000 saplings in the Parsik, retibundar and Kolshet waterfront areas. Citizens will also plant trees in their societies

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com