Urge people to take up plantation of trees in their localities: Firhad Hakim

Kolkata: Firhad Hakim, Chairman of Board of Administrators of Kolkata Municipal Corporation kicked off a tree plantation programme in Chetla and said that trees will be planted at all places wherever they were uprooted due to the severe cyclonic storm Amphan.

The plantation drive in Chetla will be taken up by Chetla Agrani Club in which Hakim is the president.

"More than 15,000 trees in the city have got uprooted due to Amphan that hit the state on May 20. I will urge people to take up plantation of trees in their respective localities to augment the green cover in the city which is the only source of oxygen. You have to be vigilant to save the trees that are planted and ensure that no other activities are carried out in those places where trees have got uprooted," said Hakim.

The KMC along with several organisations working in the area of conservation of greenery has already transplanted over 250 trees in the city and have planted over 500 new saplings. 111 of the trees that were damaged at Rabindra Sarovar has been successfully restored in a record two weeks time by an NGO Nature Mates – Nature Club and Rebuilt Bengal- a consortium of NGOs formed post Amphan.

More than 20 trees in Southern Avenue and a number of trees in Maidan area has also been restored.

The transplantation and plantation process in the city officially kicked off from June 5 on the occasion of World Environment Day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee planted three trees- a neem, a bakul and a jarul at Harish Park in Bhowanipore.

This has set the stage for the government's plan to plant 7 crore trees through out the state. Every year the state plants 3.5 crore trees but the decision to plant the same number of additional trees is because of the massive

damage to greenery due to Amphan.