BENGALURU: In a novel initiative for a greener ward, a corporator’s husband is planting trees in front of homes and naming them after the residents.
“This will bring a sense responsibility among the residents as the tree will be theirs for the next 40 to 50 years,” says Anjanappa M.
The 51-year-old is the husband of the Shobha Anjanappa, corporator of Ward 182, Padmanabhanagar.
Shobha says she will support her husband ‘in whatever initiative he starts’.
“I have secured about 4,000 saplings of trees from the range forest officials which will be freely given to the public. I will be planting them, next to the existing ones in front of the houses, with the approval of R Ashoka, the Padmanabhanagar MLA,” he says.
The ward, he says, has 15,000 houses.
“We will start with 4,000. But if we need more, we will be planting more,” he says.
Anjanappa says the existing trees are not strong enough to withstand strong winds and heavy rains, common during the rainy season.
“The public, residents, media, green activists and forest officials will misunderstand if we cut down such trees and report wrongly interpreted facts. These trees frequently fall on motor bikes, vehicles and on the public in the rainy season,” he says.
Instead, he plans to plant stronger trees like neem, honne (Malabar kino) and lime, right next to these trees.
“These trees not only give shade and oxygen, but will also stand firmly during the monsoon,” he says.
The labour cost of planting such trees will be borne by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the residents will be given the responsibility of watering the trees every day.
Residents have given their suggestions and promised support to Anjanappa on this venture as well.
“While most welcomed the idea, some have opposed it fearing falling branches,” he says.
He will be planting these trees as soon as the saplings arrive so that they can will firmly root themselves before the onset of monsoon.
“We have also installed two Reverse Osmosis water supply units in the slums in Gowdanaplaya, giving residents access to drinking water at the cost of `2 per 20 liters," he says.
He adds that he and others in the ward are also focusing on waste disposal and cleaning methods.
People Speak
They should grow trees. We don’t have any in front of our house and during the summer, it is unbearably hot. Perhaps, trees like honne and neem will be better since they are less likely to damage electric lines or weaken foundation of houses
—Nagaraj, a resident.
Plating trees that bear flowers and fruits is a bad idea. When flowers fall, they mix with the water and the road becomes slippery. Children have fallen down and hurt themselves. So they should sow saplings of neem, honne or bottle brush. Of course we will take care of that tree. It is our duty.
— Geetanjali, a resident for 23 years
The BBMP should sow them properly, so that the roots don’t come in the way of the drainage pipe
— Sridhar, a resident of 10 years
Tall trees like coconut palms are dangerous. They could fall on vehicles or people. They even come in the way of the electric lines. So they should go for neem or honne. They are short but their branches spread out, and give shade — Parvathi, a resident of 23 years.