Mangaluru: MLA of South Constituency J R Lobo held a press meet at his office premises here, on June 21. Addressing the mediapersons, Lobo said, “We are planning to make the city green by planting saplings allover the city in the coming two years. There are various development works under process in the city. People think that greenery has been vanishing due to development, so we will be planting trees in the city. For the development of the road from Kankanady to Nandigudda, we have felled 54 trees; and we will be planting 247 saplings in that stretch. This is a commitment from the government.”

The Forest Department, MCC and various organizations have joined hands to beautify the city. A green cess will also be charged for the construction of buildings. “We will plant 3000 saplings this year in urban areas. The Forest department and the MCC have already started to plant saplings. Road medians have also been beautified by planting saplings or flower plants on them. Many organizations and industries have come forward to do the maintenance. We will contact them and allot different area to them to maintain; the names of the donors will be displayed on the respective places. We need support from the public in this regard.”

He also said that plants have been planted on both sides of the Shivabagh road and it looks very beautiful. “We are also planning to plant saplings in crematoriums, cemeteries, sewage plants and water supply plants. The Forest Department has a project to clean the environment park. A park is also being planned at Pachchanady dumping yard. There are some saplings which have the capacity to absorb pollution. There is 70 to 80 acres of land there to make a park.”

Some builders construct various apartments and before construction, they fell all the trees in the area. But after the construction is done, they do not show any interest to plant trees. All the builders should make a habit of planting trees around the compound. Some people are worried about trees when the government fells them for development work but they forgot about it, when they themselves fell trees in their own compounds.

He further said, “In Mangala Nagar, there is a small park which will be developed this time. There are laterite stones in Kadri park and it is very difficult to grow the plants, but we will make it a model park by planting saplings. The Forest Department has planted trees in the temple premises in Kadri and in Circuit House too. We will also plant saplings in schools, colleges, institutions, temples, churches and mosques.”

“We will also start a green campaign because Indira Gandhi was very much interested in making a green environment. She has written many books on greenery and environment. It is our aim to make the city green through the green campaign. We should all join hands to make the city green and clean. Our district has more greenery compared to many other districts. When there are concrete buildings, we need to increase the greenery in our city. If people do not support the campaign, it will not be possible to make the city green. Also, we cannot just plant trees everywhere. When we plant any sapling, we have to consider the place, survival of the plant, etc. We have to give importance to the trees during planting; we also need to give importance to carbon sinking. Carbon sinking is the need of the hour.”

Regional forest officer Sridhar, Executive engineer Linge Gowda and others were also present.

Courtesy: Mangalorean