City NGO preserves branches, regrows them into trees

Aurangabad

: In a laudable initiative, a city-based

NGO

preserved several branches of banyan

trees

cut for road widening and grew them into full grown trees. The NGO members are implementing the model at other sites to increase sustenance and reduce expenditure of green projects.

Incidentally, around two years ago, the Public Works Department (PWD) had chopped hundreds of full grown trees to widen the Mahanubhav Ashram to Paithan link road. The felling of the trees led to a widespread outrage by environmentalists. Some of the members of NGO ‘We for Environment’ (WE) took a few of the broken branches of banyan trees and planted them again using the stump plantation process. The stump is basically the bottom part of a tree which remains in the ground even after the tree has being cut down.

After the initial experiment succeeded, the group planted around 35 to 40 branches of the broken trees at SRPF ground in Satara. Two years later, the group has become successful in saving 12 chopped trees as the branches that they planted have grown into independent trees.

According to Meghna Badjate of the NGO, stump plantation of big stems of chopped banyan trees can save the cost of transplantation and conserve the original trees in the form of the hundreds of young trees.

“If we use branches for plantation, they are already strong and a little monitoring and nourishment can turn them into big trees in little time. Stump plantation also reduces the nursery costs and is a proven technology. All phycus plants can support stump plantation,” said Kamal Pahade, a member of the NGO.

The group has also successfully attempted growing peepal trees by planting peepal branches on full grown trees and later using the branches as independent trees.