Feel for the environment? Adopt a plant in I'puram

Members of Green Team, a collective of residents from over a dozen societies in Ahinsa Khand II, have been changing the face of the area. The group, whose motto is "Clean Green and Safe Indirapuram", organises cleanliness and tree-planting drives, and conducts awareness programmes on social issues.

The group's latest initiative is the plant-adoption programme, in which participants first plant a sapling and then adopt it, with a pledge to take care of it regularly. Initially, planting each tree was costing the group Rs 1,200, including the cost of the sapling, protective railings, manure and digging. The cost, however, has come down to only Rs 500, with Ghaziabad Development Authority's nursery chipping in with the plants and the railings. 

The first phase of the drive was conducted on April 16. Speaking to City Spidey, Jayati Jain, a member of the group, said about 40 of the 50 plants had been adopted already. The second phase is set to be conducted on April 22.

Earlier, the group had placed food-collection bins for cows in neighbourhoods, to be collected regularly by a Delhi-based trust. This initiative was followed up by street plays and a tree-planting drive at a panchayat-run school in the neighbourhood.

Members of the team confirmed that anyone willing to participate from the neighbourhood could join them for the cause.

"We have already made small pits along the sides of the roads and are in the process of procuring manure. The preparation will be complete by the morning of April 22," added Jain.

Further, Jain said that under Green Team's security initiative, members had urged residential societies to place one CCTV camera pointing towards the road in front of the society. "With so many residential complexes in the area; this small step can help ensure that the entire locality is covered. We have been discussing this idea with all the AOAs in the neighbourhood," Jain said.