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Group launches plantation drive in old areas of Sangam city
The group was formed a month back and includes individuals of all age groups, as well as members of some NGOs and corporators who are taking the help of the forest department for planting trees and increasing green cover in old city areas.
PRAYAGRAJ : Worried over decreasing green cover in densely populated old city areas here, a group of people is on a mission to plant more trees in these localities. The group’s main challenge is identification of places for planting trees and to convince locals as there is less open space.
The volunteers are selecting small trees for places which are heavily populated and have narrow lanes.
The group was formed a month back and includes individuals of all age groups, as well as members of some NGOs and corporators who are taking the help of the forest department for planting trees and increasing green cover in old city areas.
The group’s founder Ashfaq Ahmad said that in comparison to Civil Lines, Cantonment, Georgetown and other areas, old city localities had few trees and very little greenery. During past the few decades ,old trees fell on their own or were cut down for different purposes. However, very few new trees were planted to recover the loss.
“ Trees are sparse in densely populated areas such as Atala, Khuldabad, Akbarpur, Atarsuiya, Dariabad, Rani Mandi, Shahganj etc. Due to lack of awareness, residents too have no interest in planting trees” he said.
“The residents are reluctant to plant new trees for different reasons,” said group’s founder member Salman Ahmad.
“Some residents argue that trees take up much space outside their homes while others claim that thieves may use them to enter their houses. Others have superstition that trees are home to spirits”.
“We are working hard for the past some days to identify suitable places for planting trees in congested localities. Moreover, we are creating awareness among people and educating them about importance of trees in our lives and saving the earth. We are convincing people to plant trees outside their homes or in vacant spots,” Salman Ahmad said.
“Although it is difficult to plant trees in densely populated areas with narrow lanes and bylanes, we are trying to make space and plant trees that do not grow high or take up a lot of space”, said corporator of Akbarpur area Kashan Siddiqui.
The group is even taking help of Google maps to identify spots with very little no greenery at all. After identification of such spots, volunteers approach the residents and convince them to get trees planted outside their homes.
“We are receiving support from the forest department in our mission. Forest officials have assured us to provide large number of tree guards for keeping the plants safe from cattle etc. We are also requesting people to take care of the plants until they grow”, Salman Ahmad added.
