BENGALURU: Bengaluru touched a green chord as citizens celebrated World Environment Day with enthusiasm, participating in planting saplings to encourage a sustainable way of living by awarding green warriors. The ‘Garden City’ came alive with a slew of initiatives and activities meant to create awareness on protecting the environment.
The state government conferred the Karnataka State Environment Awards on six people at Central College for their contributions. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah gave them the awards.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Forest Cell planted 1,000 saplings across the city on Monday, including in BBMP schools, on roads, and around lakes. “The department also distributed 500 saplings to affiliated and private schools to encourage students to care for the environment and appreciate the significance of trees,” said Sareena Sikkaligar, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF). The cell also donated more than 600 saplings to NGOs and activists organising plantation drives in their areas. HelpAge India, NGO, involved senior citizens in planting saplings.
Clean it up
Around 226 cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) undertook a cleaning drive around Lalbagh Lake. They collected approximately 120 kg of plastic waste. A similar event was organized in Seegehalli Lake by KR Puram residents where 2,000 saplings were planted, and tree books were distributed to school children.
An interesting campaign was launched by a citizens group, Bengaluru Huduga, to collect single-use pens that are non-degradable and pollute land. Environment Management and Policy Research Institute arranged a ‘drop e-waste and take home a sapling’ programme.
BMTC on eco route
Plantation drivers were organised in all units and divisional offices of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation. Already, around 12,000 saplings were planted by the department in 2022-23. At present, the corporation is in the process of procuring 10 electric AC buses with financial assistance from National Clean Air Project (NCAP) and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport. Last year, 485 buses were decommissioned and 1,118 buses are on the list to be decommissioned.