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| Gwalior Fort |
Gwalior is where I was born and brought up.
It was a small town then – of about a lakh and a half. Climatically, it was
cold in winters and very hot in summers with temperatures touching 45 to 46
degrees Celsius. The town was seemingly situated in a bowl with hills all
around that had only scrub forests that hosted small game and an occasional big
cat. These used to radiate heat of the sun that would relentlessly beat down on
these rocky hills with sparse vegetation. With the thrust on urban expansion
most of these hills have since been colonised.
However,
happy tidings have since come from the town. Yesterday a news report said that
the collectors of the district - past and present - planted 5 lakh trees over
the last four or five years ushering a 'green revolution' in the city and the
district. Of the 5 lakh saplings that were planted more than 4 lakh have
survived and most of them have become young trees. The success that the
bureaucrats got in ensuring a relatively much higher survival-rate of the
saplings was because of the detailed plans drawn up for their care and their
meticulous execution. They seem to have avoided monoculture and have planted
saplings of a variety of trees like neem, sheesham and gooseberry, etc. These
are big trees, though not fast growing but of immense value.
The
successive collectors solicited and received unqualified support from several
NGOs, other informal organisations and people in general. The report says
that while the 'green revolution' has touched the villages around Gwalior, the
city itself has been brought within its sweep. The hills in and around the city
are reported to be sporting a green appearance. The greening has
inevitably
brought down the temperature by at least one degree Celsius and, the reports
say, precipitation in the town has also increased. Encouraged by the success,
the officials have taken up the work of greening the roadsides in the town.
Unlike the Bhopal Municipal Commissioner, they seem to be oriented differently
and are believers in the concept of developing roadside greenery
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| Scrub forest |
No wonder their efforts have brought recognition and rewards for the city and
the district. The entire project and its implementation has been called for by
the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussourie, and is
going to be included as a case study in its curriculum on the subject of
Environment to orient the probationers towards this important aspect of
administration.
There
seems to be still some hope for the country.
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Photos: From the Internet
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