Vertical gardens on piers of Electronics City flyover

After getting positive response to its vertical garden on a pier of the Electronics City flyover, Bengaluru-based nonprofit SayTrees now plans to replicate the same on more than 250 piers of the elevated tollway.

“The Electronics City flyover plan is in the final stages. We are waiting for sponsors. Our big dream is to cover the piers of all the flyovers in the city. If Metro (BMRCL) authorities agree, we will work with them, too,” said Durgesh Agrahari, head of partnerships and projects, Say Trees.

He said the vertical garden might look simple but involved many technical details like the safety of piers, pots and saplings. “The vertical garden on one pier has more than 3,500 saplings of 10 varieties. We have carefully chosen these plants to ensure they thrive in organic farming,” he said.

On the vertical garden on a Metro pier, Agrahari said they did not use Hydroponics but opted for organic method following advice by Vani Murthy, who is known for spreading awareness on turning garbage into compost. “We need to enrich the soil and organic farming is the best way. Bengaluru has lots of garbage. If the wet waste is converted into compost and used for this kind of project, we will see more greenery in the city,” Murthy said.

“We have created six mini-forests, including three in Yeshwantpur and one in Kalyan Nagar. The major challenge is availability of safe land. The BBMP, the Army and the Forest Department have large tracts of lands. But we have to choose places where our saplings and plants are not harmed by human activity or grazing cows,” Agrahari said.

Speaking about water requirement, he said the 17,000 saplings they planted in June 2016 required six lakh litres every month. “Two corporate companies have helped us buy a water tanker. The BWSSB has agreed to provide water from sewage treatment plants at the rate of Rs 60 per 4,000 litres. We are also planning to get treated water from apartments. Recycled water is enough for all our projects,” he added.

Agrahari said vertical gardens required less water while making Bengaluru roads green once again. “There is no space on the roadside to plant trees. These saplings in the vertical garden are watered through automatic drip irrigation. They don’t require more than 100 ml water per day,” he said.
DH News Service