Three organisations have come together and teamed up with BBMP to green all the areas under the municipal limits that can be used for planting trees. It’s called the ‘Green Ward Challenge’ to plant 1 crore trees in Bangalore.
According to Tara Krishnaswamy, the way to greening your ward is as easy as following the five steps. “Spot any public land – even 2ft by 2ft is fine,” she says. “Make a picture and fill the form with details.” The Koti Vruksha Sainya as the group calls itself, will get the permission from the authorities and inform you. “Join the Whatsapp group. Raise it in your Ward Commitees, with your Corporator! Planting will begin in June.”
And if you can’t attend a ward committee meeting or it does not happen in your neighbourhood, Tara says that you can directly speak to the corporator about the land you have identified, and can either find a local caretaker (residents welfare association, shop or house owner) or do it yourself. You can also turn a blackspot currently being used to dump garbage and turn that into a mini forest, if BBMP finds it feasible. Therefore, just click on the links shared above and be part of this greening exercise to leave behind an eco-friendly legacy.
According to the organisers, the BBMP Mayor and Commissioner are on board, and they will be announcing this citizen engagement to the corporators shortly. The three residential organisations being part of this exercise include Citizens for Bengaluru, B.PAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) and C4C.