Vertical gardening need of the hr: Mayor
Kolkata: In a bid to combat air pollution in Kolkata, KMC Mayor Firhad Hakim said the civic body will be planting 25 lakh trees before monsoon while the civic body would write to Metro Railway authorities to allow vertical gardening on its pillars instead of giving these spaces away for advertisement purposes.
Hakim, on Friday, said the air pollution level in Kolkata is in a worrisome state. He added that the situation may take a turn for the worse with summer approaching. “We need to work on improving the air quality in the city. It is a big challenge for us. The need of the hour is urban forestry,” Hakim emphasised.
Laying out the plans, he said: “We can make better use of the pillars of flyovers in the city, and the ones that belong to Metro Railways. We can carry out vertical gardening in these spaces. I have asked the municipal commissioner to write to the Metro authorities regarding this. Such spaces on pillars can be utilised for creating green cover than allowing advertisements to be pasted on them. Vertical gardening is crucial.”
He further instructed KMC officials for the creation of a green verge in the middle of the roads. Hakim added that pavements can be fitted with hollow paver blocks. “We can plant weeping Deodar plants at the sides of the stretches. These hollow paver blocks will allow water to seep into the soil. We aim to plant about 25 lakh trees in the city before monsoon. We will begin the process in March. This will ensure that the plants get enough water during the monsoon,” he highlighted.
The Mayor recently said some stretches in the city have been identified such as in the Rabindra Sarobar Lake area in South Kolkata and near Subhas Sarobar in Beliaghata for urban forestry. Further, some unused lands belonging to Kolkata Port were also identified for the same. Plantation work is scheduled to finish before monsoon.
Hakim added that the KMC is also buying 20 more sprinklers for spraying purposes on city roads to counter dust pollution. He added that spraying also needs to be done in areas where repair work is being carried out. Construction or repair work creates a lot of dust, he said.
