Plant-and-care drive raises city’s green hope

KOLKATA: They are professionals from different walks of life who have joined hands to bring changes to the city’s environment. For more than a fortnight now, they have been distributing saplings to people free of cost with a request to nourish the plant for some years.
“This summer has come as a warning. The mercury surge in Kolkata was unprecedented and that has a lot to do with the depleting green cover,” said Pankaj Maloo, trustee of Active Citizens Together for Sustainability (ACTS) — a citizen initiative.A chartered accountant from Bhowanipore, Maloo he has been busy distributing saplings across Kolkata for the past 20 days.
“We have a condition for everyone who wanted a sapling from us. They have to take care of the plants till they mature enough,” Maloo said. ACTS started to distribute plants from June 2 and will continue the drive for 75 days. In the past three weeks, they have been distributing around 200 saplings each day.
It started with a small message on social media, asking citizens to call a number and get saplings free of cost. Within a few days, the message became viral. “We started getting numerous phone calls each day. People asked for plants and wanted to be part of the movement — Each one plant one,” said Ajay Mittal, founder trustee of the initiative. Mittal, also a resident of south Kolkata, felt the enthusiasm has boosted their confidence.
ACTS had started its journey after cyclone Amphan when the three founder members felt the need to rescue the fallen trees. “We were three members then — me, Pankaj and Vijay Agarwal. Gradually, people took notice of what we do and they started joining us. We have more than 200 volunteers now,” Mittal said.
According to the India State of Forest report, 2021, Kolkata has registered a 30% decline in green cover between 2011 and 2021. Out of 88,752 sq km geographical area in 2021, 16,832 sq km in Bengal was under forest cover. According to the 2019 report, Bengal had 16,901 sq km under forest cover. “We may not be able to reverse it, but we can stop further depletion of the green cover,” said Vijay Agarwal.