The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) has decided to plant 10,000 trees by July in Salt Lake and adjoining areas like VIP Road leading to the airport, as part of chief minister Mamata Banerjee mandated greening drive in the state post-Amphan cyclone.

On June 5, the world environment day, Banerjee had announced that the state government would plant 85 million trees in the state, including 50 million mangroves in the Sunderbans, which has been severely affected by the cyclone.

At a world environment day event held at the state PCB headquarters in Salt Lake, environment minister Saumen Mahapatra emphasised the need to undertake an extensive plantation drive to repair the environmental damages inflicted by the cyclone.

The minister planted a tree to initiate the plantation process and announced a Rs 5 crore budget for the drive. But he cautioned that unless scientific planting was pursued, such disasters would recur. State environment secretary Vivek Kumar and PCB environment secretary Rajesh Kumar accompanied minister.

“We have decided to plant 10,000 trees at roadsides as well as on road dividers, mainly in the Salt Lake area as well as on the VIP Road stretch from Hudco crossing to the airport as part of the greening drive announced by the chief minister” WBPCB chairman Kalyan Rudra told The Telegraph Salt Lake.

According to a Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation official, the township had lost over 3,000 trees during the extremely severe cyclone that pummelled by Salt Lake during evening of May 20 after having made landfall near Sagar island.

Rudra said that that the tender process had been initiated last week and the PCB planned to complete the planting by July. The total cost of plantation is expected to be around Rs 2.5 crore.

“The agency to be selected for the plantation will have to take responsibility of planting reasonably mature plants along with the tree guard and will have to look after the trees for two years,” added Rudra.

In consultation with experts, PCB has selected 24 mainly indigenous and fruit-bearing varieties for road-side plantation. They include neem, bakul, haritaki, amloki, sishoo, chhatim, ashok, kath badam, rudra palash, aswattha, arjun etc.

For the road dividers, five species have primarily been chosen — kamini, jaba, gulancha, karabi and rangan — all of which are shrubs.

Rudra said that that the green regulator has plans to undertake planting not only in and around Salt Lake but also in a 25km zone around Calcutta. The greening of Calcutta will be undertaken by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation itself.

Picked for plantation: Species chosen by the Pollution Control Board — Indigenous varieties for road-side plantation: Neem, bakul, haritaki, amloki, sishoo, chhatim, ashok, kath badam, rudra palash, aswattha, arjun etc. Shrubs for road dividers: Kamini, jaba, gulancha, karabi and rangan The Telegraph