Kolkata: Ecologic, a New Town-based nature lovers’ forum on Saturday achieved a unique milestone of planting 5,000 trees across New Town over a span of five years with 1,000 trees planted on a trot each year since 2022.
Over the years, the forum has been planting mostly local indigenous varieties and fruit trees in the green verge, parks, roadside dividers, boulevards and on open spaces near Central mall, Axis mall, New Town bus stand, clock tower, Happy street, near Pride hotel and other areas as well. Different varieties such as Neem, Bakul, Arjun, Amlaki, Jamun, Palash, Banyan and Radhachura have been planted.
The forum members said that over 70% of the saplings planted have survived and are growing up. Some of the plants are temporarily guarded and identified by bamboo sticks as many others have been protected with iron mesh nets.
“The effort of planting trees gets wasted if they don’t live. Regular maintenance of trees by watering them, specially during this heat wave and to see that they are not damaged is critical for the survival of the saplings that are planted,” said a forum member.
The forum has also involved the local gardeners and even auto drivers in the localities for watering the plants and taking care of them. Sticks are placed beside the planted trees so that they could be identified and protected.