The city’s burial grounds are set to go greener, with the Christian Burial Board taking up an aforestation initiative.

The green drive was flagged off at Tollygunge cemetery last week. Thirty saplings of trees like mahogany, eucalyptus and debdaru were planted.

“A similar initiative is in the pipeline for St Stephen’s Cemetery at Kidderpore,” said board additional secretary D.R. Bose.

“Nurseries and flowerbeds will come up at Tollygunge cemetery soon,” said Ranojoy Bose, board executive member. Distribution of saplings and replantation are also on the cards.

“Tollygunge cemetery has a lot of vacant space. So, we decided to plant more trees to make the spot soothing to the eye,” a board official explained.

The cemetery, set up in 1942, was, till a few years ago, a den of hoodlums. “However, with help from the local administration, we have been able to erect boundary walls and check intruders and trespassers,” the official said.

In Calcutta, there are seven crematoria and about a dozen burial grounds under the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. The Christian Burial Board operates four cemeteries — at Mullickbazar, Tollygunge, Kidderpore and South Park Street.

According to board officials, though Mullickbazar has the highest number of graves, Tollygunge has more burials now. An average of 25 burials a month are conducted there, a rise of 10 burials a month.

Board officials attribute this rise to easy availability of land and improvement in the cemetery’s conditions.