The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has taken up a programme of planting 300,000 trees in areas under its jurisdiction in five years from now. This green initiative is not unprecedented, though. Late mayor Annisul Huq started such a programme as early as 2017. His plan was to plant 0.1million saplings in the northern part of the city. His campaign for creating a "Clean City, Green City" took off smoothly. After his early death, the Annisul Huq Foundation continued the good work he started.
Yet apart from a few saplings planted on the median or median strip at Tejgaon during his time in the mayoral office, the majority of those disappeared. Any such green initiative taken earlier, however, was a grand success. The boulevard in front of the Jatiya Sangsad had several lanes where the median strips and roadsides were bedecked with lush growth of trees. Louis Kahn's architectural marvel --- that our Jatiya Sangsad building is ---is incomplete without the boulevard as designed by him. Now the barren strip like an airport's runway is incongruous with the building's architecture. At that time of stripping the boulevard of its lanes and trees, environmental concerns were no one's business. But at least the aesthetic sense should have spared the boulevard. On other roads and public or private spaces many such trees have fallen to the saws of the authorities' caprice. The mayor of the DSCC during the Awami League's last leg in power went for such a mayhem of the trees on the median of the road running between Dhanmondi 27 and Jhikatola.
Even if felling trees on city roads, parks and other spaces is not as rampant as before, the governing motive of saving the green friends is not very pressing. A few groups of green activists cry hoarse only to find their pleas falling on deaf ears. There are plenty of examples but suffice it to say that many trees in the Osmany Udyan located opposite to the administrative hub of the country could not be saved. The vested interests there got their way. One does not have to be an environmental activist to realise the importance of trees. Why temperature in the denuded city is 5.0 degree higher than in the rural areas is enough to drive home the message. Even if this fact is not enough for some people, they should feel the difference in temperature levels as they venture into the cantonment area or in the residential area of ministers and judges opposite to the Ramna Park. This is no miracle but the woodland ambience there is responsible for maintaining temperature a few degrees lower.
Clearly, if every vacant place from roadsides to khas lands to private areas nurture the growth of indigenous trees---surely not rain trees, eucalyptus and other alien trees---miracle is likely to happen. Now that the city has earned the dubious epithet of one of the top polluted urban locations on the planet, planting more and more trees has no alternative. The DSCC deserves appreciation for taking up such a massive tree planting programme.
What, however, should be remembered is that such good initiatives are taken not to finish the task in real time or if finished, the required follow-up goes missing. Saplings planted initially need intense care like regular watering and pruning. This nation is not particularly famous for maintenance. Funds should be allotted right at the beginning for the necessary care for plants until they grow to a reasonable size when they are able to fend for themselves. All roads and streets can be turned green if selected saplings including the fruit-bearing ones are planted and closely monitored with the provision for replacing the ones that fail to survive for some reasons.
The unliveable city can be turned into a liveable one if only it can be shaped green under a programme for tree plantation and protection. Both the DSCC and DNCC should strive to strike a balance between urbanisation and greening. If pursued with a sense of purpose, the campaign for a clean and green city can restore the city's liveable index. Even members of the public should be involved with the programme so that they become jealous defenders of trees and woodlands.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com
