Mumbai: As the road concretisation caused several trees of fall in Thakur Village, Kandivali East, the residents took the onus upon themselves to green their vicinity. The 'Friends of trees' initiative included each building to adopt a tree and nurture them holding them accountable for the greenery around them.
Community Plants Trees and Shrubs
Over the month the residents- children and adults came together to plant 25 trees and over 250 shrubs to beautify 10 pits near the road of mirage garden in Kandivali.
The idea was born when people in the vicinity started dumping garbage in the roadside pits meant for trees. "During the road concretisation work, the contractor made the boundaries and left some space for the trees, however it was left empty. While the work was in progress several trees also fell on the ground," said Subhash Rohra, a residents leading the initiative.
The residents started carrying out a tree census in the area, where they put numbers on the trees. "We took some help from the civic body, who told us that according to the last tree census there were about 1200 trees in the vicinity," said Rohra. So far the residents have tagged 150 trees in the area and continue to plant more simultaneously.
Cleaning Roadside Pits to Enable Plantation
"After the concretisation work completed, people started throwing all sorts of garbage and scrap inside the pits which made the newly built road, an unhygienic site," he added.
In a bid to make the vicinity better, the residents first approached the civic clean-up workers and asked them to clean the pits. However, as the pits were filled with metal scrap and other heavy discarded materials, it was not possible to do that regularly. "We then approached the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) solid waste management and garden department to find a solution and decided to plant the trees ourselves, so people wouldn't litter there," said Raj Dorwani, another resident.
Following this 'Friends of Trees', a group created by residents which involved six members in the core group, and approached the buildings in our area if they would be willing to adopt the trees. Adopting a tree meant taking care of all the plants and shrubs in the pits, which included providing organic compounds, soil, and other resources required to nurture the tree and look at its regular maintenance.
BMC Support and Plantation Logistics
The plan was mooted to the civic body in June this and after their approval, the BMC got the pits cleaned, following which the residents started the tree plantation.
"The initial plants and saplings are given by us from the support of some local organisations, after the plantation is done, it becomes the responsibility of the adopter," added Dorwani.
"Only the trees which give more oxygen such as the Pandanus, areca plant, and crotons are used," he said. "We try to use species that are native to us, and will help the environment in the longer run," he added.
The initiative outreach is done through social media platforms. So far five buildings have given their commitment letters to the friends of trees.
Aiming for Improved Green Cover and Community Engagement
As the cleaning and plantation is in process, the group continued to count the pits in all the areas, which included the demarcation of sizes and trees planted in it.
The motive of the initiative is to increase the green cover in the area, have cleaner air, and most importantly have better community engagement which will keep the area lustrous green.
"There should ideally atleast three trees for one person in the area, given by the number of last census we did not enough trees. We should be able to have atleast 20,000 trees enough for the population of our area," said Rohra.
The residents demanded a tree census to be carried out to understand where the city currently stands in terms of green cover as the last tree census was carried out in 2018 and since then city has lost plenty of trees.
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