Mira-Bhayandar: With the intention of establishing an environment friendly bond between citizens and nature, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has launched a tree adoption scheme which is also aimed at enhancing the green cover of the twin-city.
The scheme was launched by municipal commissioner- Sanjay Katkar at the Hindu-Hriday Samrat Balasaaheb Thackeray ground in the Indralok area of Bhayandar (east) on the occasion of Independence Day. While the commissioner planted three saplings of Bakul (mimusops elengi) tree under the scheme, class I and class II officials adopted 36 saplings of the same genre by voluntarily paying the charges from their own pockets.
About The Scheme
Under the scheme, any citizen, company, or organisations can adopt a tree by making a one-time payment amounting to Rs 7,000 towards plantation cost which includes saplings, digging, manure, two years maintenance, and tree guard charges.
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“We have identified and geo-tagged 23,245 spots for the plantation drive across the twin city. To maintain uniformity, certain species of saplings have been handpicked for plantations at the designated spots,” said Katkar who has appealed to citizens to come forward and actively take part in the Adopt-a-Tree scheme.
One can also adopt a tree as a child or in remembrance of a family member who has passed away. The tree guard will be tagged with the name suggested by the adopter.
“The two-year maintenance contract has been inked. However, since it’s a community movement, we expect the adopters to establish a bond with Mother nature by paying visits to ensure that the trees are being well-cared for,” said Deputy Municipal Commissioner- Kalpita Pimple.
While the donors can give suggestions for taking care of the tree, the civic administration will also set up a special redressal mechanism to look into complaints.
