Hindustan Times              24.06.2013 

KMC’s bosses study scope for real plantation

Every year, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation plants saplings in
different parts of the city in a bid to expand Kolkata’s dwindling green
cover. But for the first time since these green drives began, the civic
authorities have opted for a detailed survey defining the scope of
plantation this monsoon. The botanists who conducted the survey were
asked to give a ward and borough wise analysis of

the core city area.

“It is more scientific and logical to go for a survey to determine
how many saplings need to be planted than to blindly opt for forced
plantation in the city,” Debashis Kumar, member, mayor-in-council (parks
and squares), said. The survey conducted in each of the hundred wards
in the core city area in May had come up with a requirement to plant
35,000 saplings this monsoon.

The ten botanists, who had undertaken the rigorous job of surveying
and locating possible areas for plantation this monsoon, have already
submitted a detailed list of the scope of plantation in every ward. A
road wise-map has also been sketched. However, municipal commissioner
Khalil Ahmed is aiming for a much higher target than just 35,000
saplings — he hopes to plant at least one lakh this monsoon.

Dismissing Ahmed’s rather ambitious target, a civic technocrat
associated with the plantation programme said, “At the most we can
manage to plant 50,000 to 60,000 saplings this year. However, if you
consider the roadside and medium size shrubs in your count, then it
would be more than a lakh.”