MYSURU: Tree campaign? Grow ahead! A silent green revolution is happening here with the goal of planting one crore trees. It’s 3.45 pm, a group of people assemble near a park and split themselves into different groups. One group starts packing soil into the bags, while the other starts sowing seeds inside the bags. Some others are arranging them in rows and a few others are seen watering thousands of saplings that are kept on the floor.
This is a common sight every Sunday inside the MUDA (Mysuru Urban Development Authority) park at BEML Layout, where the green crusaders are seen enthusiastically participating in the ‘Seed sowing festival’ organised by the city-based organisation ‘Koti Vriksha Prathisthana’.
Over the past few years, this organisation has been conducting ‘Beeja Neduva Habba’ (Seed sowing festival) at this park which sees the participation of people and volunteers from all walks of life. From a ten-year-old boy to a sixty-year-old woman can be seen taking part in this initiative with great zeal to reach their goal of growing one crore trees in Mysuru. The organisation, founded by Shreekanth Bhat (46) in 2016, has grown over 15,000 trees and planted more than 40,000 saplings across Mysuru till date.
Bhat, a native of Sirsi, grew up in the midst of greenery and hence his green crusade. When he shifted to Mysuru, he became busy with his professional life and could not take part in any planting activities. He is the Director of IQ Plus academy and teaches abacus and personality development to the children.
When he heard about trees being chopped, burnt and logged in the name of development, he wished he could do his best to the environment. And thus was the seed of ‘Grow Tree’ campaign sown. And he founded Koti Vriksha Pratisthana, which today is spreading its roots.
“I discussed the idea of Grow tree campaign with my friends, family and neighbours and later founded this organisation with a mission to grow one crore trees in Mysuru. We chose a MUDA park in the area and spoke to officials about it. We took up the responsibility of completely maintaining the park and then started to sow the seeds and grow saplings. We later appealed to more people to join us. Gradually people started to support the cause and today we have more than 25,000 saplings in stock and have successfully grown more than 15,000 trees across Mysuru,” he says
On every Sunday, the green ambassadors come at around 4 pm and sow seeds for about two hours. Once the saplings come up, they identify a place and plant them. They also donate the saplings to various organisations, educational institutions, who take up the responsibility of planting and nurturing them.
They generally sow native seeds and prefer those which can become huge trees. They have saplings of ‘Indian Beech’ (Honge), “Neem’ (Bevu), ‘Bael (Bilva), ’Honna’, ‘Arjuna (Hole Matthi)’, ‘Jackfruit (Halasu)’, ‘Mahogany’ and many local seeds.
“Before donating saplings to people or organisations, we first ask them to identify a place, study the surroundings and check about availability of water and ask them to give an assurance to place a tree guard or put a fence in the entire area to protect the saplings. Only then do we provide them saplings. We don’t want any single sapling to die,” says Bhat.
There are over 90 people, including the members and volunteers, who are part of this mission. About 20 people are regular participants who spend quality time to nurture the saplings.Members and volunteers are divided into groups -- one group for the collection of seeds (mainly native seeds), one team for raising saplings and other teams for identification of place to plant the saplings.
Volunteers regularly monitor the progress. The entire expenses are borne by Bhat, who says it is just a small attempt to pay back to society. It costs around Rs 23,000 every month to maintain the saplings that they have planted near Hulahalli.
The members have adopted the principle to ‘prepare plant’, ‘propagate plant’, ‘plant the plant’, ‘maintain the plant’, ‘donate the plant’ and ‘protect the plant’. With this vision and steps, we can increase the green cover in Mysuru in the next few years and create more urban and rural dense forests, says a member of Koti Vriksha.
“I have been taking part in the seed-sowing activity from the inception of this organisation. Spending some good amount of time in the midst of greenery and joining hands to nurture the saplings gives a great sense of satisfaction. I always feel I am in a different world when I take part in this activity. Since the past few years, I have gained a lot of experience and it has helped me learn more about plant species,” says Gayathri H, a homemaker and a volunteer of Koti Vriksha, who is taking part in these activities not just on Sundays but every day.
Ramaprakasha N, lecturer, Maharaja’s College in Mysuru, has been volunteering since the past couple of years. Sharing his experience and emphasising on the need of growing trees, he says, “Mysuru was known for its cool breeze and was often referred to as ‘Cool City’. When we were young, 28 degrees Celsius would be the maximum temperature. But now the temperature touches even 40 degrees Celsius in Mysuru. This is because people are killing trees in the name of development and no attempts have been made to grow trees. I felt there is a need for us to do our best in protecting the environment and this organisation gave a platform to do some ‘Alilu Seve’ (a little service).”
The organisation often conducts awareness programmes across various educational institutions and other platforms to spread the message of growing trees.“There is a rule which states that for each tree cut, we need to plant ten saplings, but nobody follows it. We need to first understand that if there are no trees, then there are no humans too! Raising saplings or growing trees is not rocket science, everyone can do this and for sure this will benefit the society. So whenever I get a chance to meet new people I talk to them for five minutes about the importance of growing trees and if they are convinced they join their hands in our endeavour,” says Bhat.