BENGALURU: Turning a concrete jungle into a green canopy cannot happen overnight. And a few active citizens of HSR Layout are doing their bit to go the green way.Work began during the first week of July and the residents have so far planted 300 saplings in 600 locations.
Compared to Indiranagar and Koramangla, HSR Layout is a reasonably new layout and hence the green cover is sparse. With this in mind, these citizens and the volunteers of HSR Citizen Forum came together and teamed up with the forest department and the BBMP to plant saplings.
While the forest department agreed to sponsor 600 trees, electric drill and labour to plant the trees, provided the volunteers from the forum identify the locations for the purpose, BBMP agreed to provide electricity.
“When we took a walk to identify locations to plant saplings, we saw that the area in front of most h ouses and commercial outlets was concretised. Planting there would involve drilling through the concrete, cutting it and making space for soil, compost, sapling and tree guard,” said Krupa, a resident of Sector 2, who has been leading the cause for plantation since environment day last year.
Paying for electric/hydraulic dril, resistance from owners and lack of manpower posed as big roadblocks. “We approached MLA Satish Reddy and he connected us to the forest department,” said Dr Shanthi Tummala, a dentist-turned-enviro nmental activist.
“In some places, we had dug the pits while waiting for tree guards. But once things were in place, we planted around 50 saplings in a day,” said Padmashree Mahesh, member of Sector 7 RWA.
The project faced opposition too. Some residents thought the tree would grow and block the ‘beauty’ of their house. A few commercial places objected too because it ate into their parking space. Between corporator Gurumurthy Reddy, BBMP AEE Venkatesh and resident activists, the issue was resolved.
Chitra, a resident volunteer of Sector 1 said, “We ensured the planting was between two compound walls so that it didn’t obstruct any gate..”
What happens to the saplings now? Ratnakar, a resident of Sector 7 said, “The owners have promised to water the sapling for a year. After that the tree will be able to take care of itself.”