A GREEN COMMITMENT

On July 11th ‘Haritha Haram’ a plantation drive initiative of Telangana government was launched with much fanfare. Next day, news papers were full of photographs of politicians, celebrities planting or watering the planted saplings. Thanks to intense publicity and free distribution of saplings across, people of all walks of life have contributed their bit to plantation drive. All this surely must have costed the government exchequer of lakhs of rupees.
But I wonder how many saplings that have been planted will actually survive to make a green cover in future.
I’m neither a cynical nor I doubt the good intention behind the whole initiative.
My limited point is plantation can’t be a one day event. It is a life time commitment.
As someone who is passionate about plants and gardening, I practically know what all thinking and hard work goes behind growing plants or trees.

•We need to choose the plant according to the place available for plantation.
• There should be some one who is ready to take the responsibility of watering them in future.
•We should have prior information about the plant that we are planning to plant. Water, Sun requirements etc.
•After plantation, it is important to protect them until certain time from animals that graze.
•Now plant may appear small but it is important to gauge how big it grows, before plantation and accordingly we need to choose the place for plantation.
•If it grows too big, we can’t grow it too close to the residence. Some tree roots may damage the building’s foundation or structure.
•if we plant trees that grow too tall and wide, planting them closer to current poles and cables or in narrow roads may cause a nuisance in the future. There is nothing worse than requiring to cut the grown up trees in future.
•Flowering plants can’t be planted closer to huge trees. They won’t grow properly under shade.
•If we are planning to grow trees closer to small plants, the plants may not survive in future.
•Plants that chosen for growing should be suitable for local weather conditions.

I wonder how many people who participated actively in plantation drive really thought about these points before actually digging and planting the saplings.
I can only hope majority of the saplings survive for the years to come and give respite to Hyderabad citizens from soaring summer temperatures