The Hindu 11.04.2013
Civic body to evolve a plan to green city
Not the wild way anymore. The city administrators hope to evolve a plan to green the city.
A
pattern for planting saplings considering the specialities of the
planting area and tree species available will be evolved in the city.
Planting of trees without taking into account the speciality of the area
would be counterproductive, said K.J. Sohan, chairman of the Town
Planning Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation.
If
trees that would bulk up were planted in the walkways of narrow roads,
the stakeholders of the area would destroy the saplings, he said.
Saplings
should be selected after considering the speciality of the species and
location and the corporation was planning to work with the Social
Forestry wing of the Kerala Forest Department for the project, he said.
Three
years ago, a few volunteers had counted 6,443 trees in public places of
the city in a unique survey held here. The census was carried out by
the Rajagiri outREACH of the Rajagiri School of Social Sciences,
Kalamassery, for the Kochi Corporation.
Volunteers
had listed 2,086 large trees, 1,953 medium-sized ones and 1,761 small
trees in the city. They had also spotted 542 saplings in public places
of Kochi.
However, Mr. Sohan felt that the census was
irrelevant as the tree on the public places accounted for less than 2
per cent of the total trees in the city. Majority of the trees were
located on private holdings, he said.
The civic body
is also planning to promote individuals to plant suitable trees in
public spots. The scheme would be implemented during the next monsoon
season, he said.