Keeping green cover amid concrete jungle

Y. Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: Come Sunday, volunteers of Adamya Chetana and a group of student volunteers from BMS College of Engineering go to a water body to plant saplings nearby. They have been doing this since June 2015 and are set to take it forward in future too.

The green initiative - Green Sunday - was launched by late Ananthkumar, MP of Bengaluru South and Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Chemicals and Fertilizers in June 2015. The volunteers have succeeded in not only planting 75,000 saplings and nurturing them by June 2016.

“We began the Green Sunday near Tagore Circle on Gandhi Bazar. The saplings planted by us are named as Anantha Vana. All those saplings are well grown now,” said N. Prakash, a volunteer of Adamya Chetana.

According to him, the volunteers of Adamya Chetana and student volunteers from BMS College of Engineering have been visiting water bodies in South Bengaluru to ensure greenery.

“I am very happy to be part of this initiative. I have joined Adamya Chetana volunteers on 297th Sunday. It gives me immense satisfaction to plant saplings and nurture them. It is a kind of good experience. I consider it as a good contribution to society,” said Tanmay M Shegade, a student volunteer.

The volunteers gather at an assigned water body at 9 am on Sundays to plant saplings and maintain the lake bund. Adamya Chetana Trust provides breakfast apart from saplings for the volunteers.

Sujatha Nagaraja, assistant professor, BMS College of Engineering told News Trail that she joined Adamya Chetana volunteers last September. “I have participated in the Clean India campaign organized by Adamya Chetana at Basavanagudi to create awareness among the residents on the ill-effects of plastic. I have also been accompanying students to water bodies to plant saplings,’’ she said.

The volunteers have planted around 600 saplings at Kommasandra Lake recently. “We have worked for three Sundays at Kommasandra Lake. On the first Sunday (November 28), we planted 300 saplings. On the second Sunday (December 5), we planted 100 saplings and took up some maintenance work. On the third Sunday (December 12), we planted 200 saplings,’’ said a volunteer.