BBMP to develop tree parks

Green thought

The concept of tree-park is not new but it is not widely used. Only a few found in Bangalore are located in JP Nagar and Jayanagar. In the recent past the BBMP, particularly its horticulture department, drew criticism from the Transport Minister and City In-charge Minister R Ashok for growing grass which is contributing very little to check air pollution and consumes more water and money on maintenance.

BBMP spends some Rs 45 crore on the maintenance of parks, which is around one-third of the total budget of the BBMP had allotted for the horticulture department this year. With this new tree-park concept the BBMP intends to minimise maintenance expenditure on the parks by almost two-third. Keeping all this in mind, the BBMP now has decided to develop tree-parks. It has identified some 3,400 odd places where such tree-parks can be developed.

“Our objective is that we should not spend too much of money to develop it and also for its maintenance,” said a BBMP official. Presently the BBMP has some five lakhs saplings. Among these saplings six to eight feet grown saplings would be planted extensively during the forthcoming monsoon.

Sources said, the BBMP commissioner during a meeting with the horticulture and forest department officials directed them to utilise the ensuing monsoon properly. He also directed them to give priority to those areas which lost green canopies to the various infrastructure projects.