(Top) A plantation drive on at Biju Patnaik Park and schoolchildren take out a cycle rally to create awareness about the environment on Sishu Bhavan-Capital Hospital road. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 11: Participants in a plantation programme at Biju Patnaik Park this morning took a pledge to reduce the pollution load of the city by not using their motor vehicles on the last Sunday of every month.

Students, young community leaders, politicians, elders and morning walkers at the park numbering around 400 took part in the event and expressed concern over the increase in vehicular traffic and pollution in the city.

At present, Bhubaneswar has around nine lakh motor vehicles, of which, around 7.2 lakh are two-wheelers. Every month, around 60,000 new vehicles are getting registered in the two road transport officers’ offices.

Sumitra Rana, a Class IX student of Harihar Vidyapeeth at Nageswar Tangi, also took part in a cycle rally after the plantation programme. He said: “We have heard from our teachers that in the West, several cities have adopted the concept of shunning vehicles and motorbikes once every month to reduce pollution.”

Sushant Nayak, a Class X student of Unit-VI Boys’ High School at Ganganagar, said: “The civic and development authorities should promote cycling, so that we can have less pollution in the city. There should be more emphasis on public transport system as over-dependence on personal mode of transport is causing congestion in the city.”

The plantation programme was organised by city-based Green World Trust, which specialises in plantation related activities and has created nearly eight green patches in various localities of the city.

Nrupesh Nayak of the organisation said: “We are planning to introduce the concept of not using motorised mode of transport on the last Sunday of every month — which could be changed to once a week. This will not only protect the environment from pollution, but also contribute towards mitigating the current oil crisis.”

Taking part in the event, tourism and culture minister Ashok Panda promised to take the proposal to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Bhbaneswar Development Authority and the state government, so that the policy-makers could have such an idea to follow and devise ways of implementing it.

Sources said an eco-sensitive hill station, Matheran in Raigad district of Maharashtra, does not allow any motor vehicles inside the city. “We may not replicate Matheran here but can use the same concept once a month to make the city greener,” said Nayak.

Biju Patnaik Park in the heart of the city was chosen for the plantation programme as it had lost around 600 big trees during Phailin last October. “This year, in the park we are planning to plant 1,000 saplings, of which, 500 will be of tree species and 500 of shrub species,” said chief horticulturist of the development authority Ashok N. Dhar.

It took around eight months for the development authority to think about plantation in the park after the Phailin. “We will start work from tomorrow,” Dhar said.

Deputy mayor K. Shanti was present on the occasion.