MC targets to plant 30,000 saplings this monsoon

LUDHIANA: With monsoon making its way into the city, the horticulture branch of the municipal corporation has decided to plant 30,000 saplings during the plantation drive this season. Gearing up for the same, despite staff crunch and other hurdles, the civic body has decided to plant saplings in vacant parks, streets or medians, where water supply is available nearby.
Some of the saplings will be planted with the help of private contractor who will provide labour, plants and maintenance service for a while.
As of now, the horticulture branch of MC has remained the most neglected wing in the absence of technical staff. There are 870 public parks in the city, of which more than 650 parks are being handed over to the park management committees for maintenance purpose.
The MC is maintaining 264 parks, while the rest are lying in abandoned state. Almost 80-km-long central verge in the entire city also goes under plantation. Even the charge of the horticulture branch lies with officials from the building and road department. For plantation and other works, the officials could only arrange 100 people and they are also doubtful if work will get completed with these number of gardeners.
As many as 5000 saplings are ready with civic body in its nursery while rest will be purchased from forest department and nursery managed by Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (Glada).
Junior engineer of MC horticulture wing Kripal Singh said, “We are almost ready for the plantation drive and are waiting for regular rainfall so that ground becomes adequate enough for the saplings to make space.” He said they had succeeded in saving plants last year and this year too, they will try to get it done properly.
However,since city is among the most polluted cities of country and world, the residents demand a massive plantation to be done. A resident of Civil Lines, Gurpreet Singh, said, “When plantation is done it’s maintenance should also be continued to save plants. Here, we face severe air pollution due to less green cover, so, authorities should carry on plantation throughout the year.”
Another resident from Maya Nagar, Shruti Jain, said, “Some areas of the city are quite green while some are barren. A balanced approach is required so that all residents can exercise their right on clean air.”