The dizzying records that Bengaluru has set this summer seem to have evoked citizens to press the panic button on what has been known for a long time — the rapid loss of green cover. It has spurred a sudden interest in planting saplings.
“Ever since people thought the temperature had reached 41 degree Celsius, we have been getting more calls than ever,” said Janet Yegneswaran from Trees for Free, a city-based NGO that provides free saplings all the while touting sale-style benefits of trees: free global cooling, free birdsong, 100 per cent pure air.
Across Bengaluru, trusts and NGOs involved in similar activities are reporting a ‘drastic’ increase in the number of queries and requests. What’s more, they are coming from individuals and residents instead of organisations and firms.
Increase in interest
Durgesh Agrahari, head of partnerships and projects, SayTrees, said that they have been getting 15 to 20 calls and emails every day in the last fortnight, compared to seven or eight earlier. “This is a steep increase. People want to come and make a difference. We are getting calls from all parts of the city, primarily from local residents,” he said.
But they are putting off plantation drives until the monsoon sets in, i.e., June, he added, as they believe that the kind of boost that growth of saplings gets when it rains cannot be matched.
Ms. Yegneswaran from Trees for Free added that recently, 200 saplings were planted in Vasanthnagar at the behest of local residents. “We are getting requests from individuals as well, who ask for 10 or 20 saplings to be planted on his or her street. This is the highest demand we have seen since we started in 2005,” she said.
