DL Block

“A heatwave had made Srinagar hotter than Calcutta this summer. This goes to show how serious and urgent a problem global warming has become and how planting trees on a single day of the year will not be enough,” said councilor of ward 32 Kakali Saha at the tree plantation ceremony at DL Block.

DL Block Residents’ Association, ward 32,and Rotary Club of Salt Lake Central were jointly hosting the ceremony. “We need to plant as many trees as we can, and focus on fruit trees as birds like sparrows and parrots have dwindled in number. Also, the right trees must be planted at the right place,” said Saha, citing how a Babla tree had toppled in a storm at EE Block Island the week before.

Neem, Mango, Peepal, Amla, Kamranga, Jam, Bedana, Bougainvillea etc have been planted around the block and some were also gifted to individuals to plant at home.

Block secretary Archita Deb said they had scouted the block and identified spots to plant the 50 trees across the park and lanes. “Our staff will be watering and looking after these plants. We try to hold such tree plantation drives every monsoon but it is usually restricted to 25 to 30 trees. This time, with Rotary backing us, we have been able to plant many more.

“Rotary has seven areas of focus every year and this time the environment is one of them. This issue is too important to ignore,” said Priyanka Mukherjee, president of Rotary Club of Salt Lake Central.

Bagan

Some groups planted, some distributed but this one – Bagan — exchanged.

“Ours is a Facebook community and members from Salt Lake and nearby localities like Kestopur and Phoolbagan dropped by,” said Chhanda Bhattacharya, a resident of Karunamoyee who was one of the organisers. “For weeks, members like Asim Mondal of Kestopur and Sulata Das of BA Block had been collating lists of five plants each of us wanted to gift and those we sought. The event finally took place at BA-CA Park.”

“Our interaction online is helpful; we seek advice, share pictures… But it’s a different feeling to meet in person. We met many members for the first time,” said Bhattacharya, who gifted Jasmine, Buttercup, Bougainvillea, and Bleeding Hearts to 25 people and took home a Noni tree.

Some newbies didn’t have anything to gift but were still showered with saplings by veterans. Subhashis Desi, who specialises in Nandini flowers, gifted two specimens to all who came — which was about 70 or 80 in number.

AE (Part 2)

At AE (Part 2) the saplings were planted by children of the block. Some seven or eight kids aged between two and 10 planted 40 fruit and flowering trees at two spots around the block.

One spot was a triangular cut-out next to the community hall, that has a statue of Chandalika and a fountain. “The fountain is now defunct and accumulates water at the base, which in itself is a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes. So we used up that water for the saplings and sprinkled bleaching powder inside it,” said Tapas Sengupta, secretary of AE Block Samaj Kalyan Sangha.

Here there was only space for flowering plants like Hibiscus and Togor so fruit trees were planted in the green verge. Little gardeners Arya Pattanayak and Akrish Sarkar were eager to eat Guavas that they planted, and Shreyan Basu, three, was excited about Jackfruit. “I can eat 10 jackfruit bulbs at a go,” he said, eagerly waiting for this plant to bear fruit.

Bidhannagar Horticultural Society

It rained heavily on the morning when Bidhannagar Horticultural Society celebrated Forest Week, still more than 80 members showed up. The venue was CF 1, a vacant plot that the society maintains.

“We hold several events around the year but this is one of our most awaited as we distribute what our members treasure the most — plants,” said secretary Goutam Kumar Paul.

They gave out saplings of varieties like Rose, Jasmine, Hibiscus, Guava, and Mango. “Most members seek flowering plants as they are easier to maintain. This time we distributed Adeniums for the first time. They were much sought-after as they are an expensive flowering plant,” Paul said.

“I am happiest to have got a black Guava this time,” said Bani Chakrabarty, who also worked tirelessly to organise the event. “I already have 40 pots of Roses and 30 Hibiscuses at home, but this Guava — that is black on the outside, inside and also has black leaves — is sweet and tasty.”

Hari Mitti Foundation

Many groups have been planting saplings, but the greatest concern remains their maintenance. Sector V-based Hari Mitti Foundation launched an initiative where everyone was invited to plant saplings, while the host organisation took responsibility for their care.

“The focus is often on the number of saplings planted — sometimes claimed to be in thousands — but judging from recent trends, only 20 per cent survive to maturity. The rest get eaten by goats, trampled by dogs, or simply die from a lack of manure and fertilisers,” said Suhrid Chandra, founder of Hari Mitti that works for a sustainable ecosystem by creating urban forests in New Town green verges, among other places.

“A tree needs three years of care before it becomes self-sufficient. We are inviting people to plant saplings, adopt them for Rs 1,000 each, and leave their upkeep to us. The cost comes to less than a rupee a day.”

More than 250 saplings were planted on the occasion at New Town’s Green Verge 5, near Owl Junction, which Hari Mitti adopted a few years ago and where it has already planted over 2,000 trees. “We are developing this verge in phases, and it still has space for 1,000 more trees. Today, we planted indigenous species as they are better suited to local conditions and have a higher survival rate— Neem, Jackfruit, Krishnachura,Radhachura etc,” Chandra said.

Rotary Club Metro City and Rotary Club of Metro Kabi Tirtha collaborated with the group to adopt trees. “We are asking people to plant 16 trees in their lifetime, as studies show that’s how much oxygen they will consume,” Chandra said.

Calcutta 64

For the last eight years, every monsoon sees Calcutta 64, the BC Block cafeteria, distribute saplings. This year there was no exception to the practice but they also decided to do more.

“This programme happens over a period of three-four days when our regular customers go back with gifts of saplings. This year, we have decided to plant 100 trees. Every Sunday, our gardener goes to the appointed spot and does the plantation,” said Birojit Paul, co-founder and co-owner of the popular cafe.

The Paul brothers, Birojit and Debojit, took the decision as pollution in Calcutta has risen manifold over the last decade. “Autos are run on kata gas (domestic LPG), instead of the legal auto LPG, and cause more pollution. Hundreds of trees were felled in Salt Lake when the East West Metro was coming up. So we thought of doing our bit to help replenish the vanishing green cover,” said Debojit.

That morning, they planted Chinese Togor, Rangan and Bel saplings on the road divider in front of the cafe and at FC Park, with permission from the block committee, which has undertaken plantation on its own.