KOLKATA: The KMC parks department will plant 16,000 saplings, a bulk of them of fruit-bearing trees, across the city to compensate for the loss incurred during Cyclone Amphan last year. Mango, guava, kala jamun, wax apple (jamrul) and jackfruit are among the fruit trees that will be planted across the 16 boroughs. In addition, trees like krishnachura, radhachura, kadam and jarul will also be planted, according to horticulturists associated with the project.
While the plantation will make up for a good portion of the 18,000 trees uprooted in Amphan, environmentalists feel at least 1 lakh trees have to be planted to compensate for the loss as one out of five saplings survive and develop into a full-grown tree.
A KMC parks department study revealed that the number of birds had increased in neighbourhoods like Northern Avenue (Tallah area), Deshbandhu Park, Southern Avenue and Rabindra Sarobar, which had fruit trees. Local residents can now spot a wide variety of birds, including woodpeckers, parrots, mynahs and bulbuls.
Recalling a similar initiative by KMC parks department a decade ago, horticulturist Ranjit Samanta lauded the initiative. It was under Samanta’s supervision that KMC had planted several fruit-bearing trees. On Friday, Samanta said he feels delighted whenever he sees the 100-odd mango trees he had planted around a playground beside Tallah Park in 2011 in full bloom. “The trees attract birds and local residents enjoy ripe mangoes in summer,” he said.
Environmentalist Arjan Basu Roy also welcomed the civic move, but he stressed on the need for an appropriate space for planting fruit-bearing and other species of trees under the supervision of experts.
“Selection of space is very important. Among the fruit-bearing trees, I would prefer guava, naseberry (chiku) and blueberry (falsa) if we need to attract birds as these trees need a smaller space compared to large species of fruit-bearing trees,” he said.
