Volunteers, residents join hands for a 'Green Sunday'

 It was a “Green Sunday” for many Bengalureans as they planted saplings and pledged to take care of them for a greener city.

Residents of Deepanjalinagar planted around 100 saplings of 10 native species, including mango, jamoon, jackfruit and neem around Deepanjali lake and park.

The plantation drive was organised by the Adamya Chetana Foundation and was attended by corporators Ashwath Narayan, C R Lakshminarayan and Anupama. Tejaswini Ananthakumar, chairperson of Adamaya Chetana Foundation, was also present.

Namrata Kamath, a volunteer, told DH that ‘Green Sunday’ was an initiative to green the city. “Ideally there should be seven trees for one person, but at present there is not even one tree for seven people. A recent assessment by a few private organisations showed that there are just 13 lakh trees in a city of one crore population. The Foundation’s volunteers will join hands with residents to ensure that there is at least one tree for every individual,” she said.

‘60,000 saplings planted’
Every Sunday volunteers and citizens will plant saplings and pledge to take care of them. “So far we have planted 60,000 saplings in various parts of the city, like Arikere, Vijayanagar, Hanumanthanagar, Kathriguppe, Hulimavu and the National College Grounds. Saplings have been planted on  roadsides, parks, near water bodies and in open spaces. Citizens and members of various Residents Welfare Associations are also involved in the initiative. The onus is not only on the volunteers but also on the residents to take care of the saplings,” she added.