Bidhannagar Horticultural Society

In its silver jubilee year, Bidhannagar Horticultural Society celebrated Forest Week on a large scale. 
The festivities began early in the morning with a “Walk for Green”. 

Over 60 students of the AE Block school Bhagabati Devi Balika Vidyalaya, along with their teachers, guardians, members of the society and nature lovers, walked from Netaji statue to BC Block community hall.  They held up pro-greenery posters and sang songs of nature and the monsoon on the way. 

At BC Block, the group was joined by mayor Sabyasachi Dutta and justice (retd) G.N. Roy, both of whom planted Palash and Swarnachapa trees outside the community hall. 

The society then began distributing free saplings to everyone present. “We gave three saplings each to over 250 people. We gave fruit, flowering and foliage plants,” said secretary Bijan Ghosh. 

“Salt Lake has become greener over the past 25 years but we can still encourage more people to grow plants. Those who lack space can place pots in their balconies and terraces,” said the man who himself has a colourful terrace garden in BB Block.

Ward 29

Chairperson of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Krishna Chakraborty, hosted a Vanmahotsav celebration at CK-CL Park in her ward last Sunday. Rabindrasangeet filled the air and political leaders and onlookers alike gathered to plant saplings.

“We hold this ceremony every year. This year we have planted 5,000 saplings around the corporation, particularly in my ward. Some have been distributed to schools too,” said Chakraborty.

Deputy mayor Tapas Chatterjee said he and his colleagues drew inspiration from the chief minister to go on afforestation drives. “The beautification drive that has started in Calcutta will be spread to all of Bengal. This is our motto now,” he said. 

The leaders then planted a few saplings around the park.

Showli Chakraborty

Forest department

The state forest department organised a sit-and-draw contest for students at Central Park to celebrate Forest Week. The topics were wildlife conflict or afforestation and most students chose the latter. 

Shreyangi Roy of Class VIII, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, painted a scenery with deer drinking water from a stream in a forest, and Debdoot Banik, of Class VII, Hariyana Vidya Mandir, twisted the road safety slogan of Calcutta Police to come up with “safe tree, save life” to compliment his picture of a green village. “The Safe Drive, Save Life campaign is very popular and people would take note if something similar is used for afforestation now,” said the boy who lives in BC Block. 

Narendra Kumar Pandey, principal chief conservator of forests and head of forest force, told the students how in the early years Forest Week (Vanmahotsav) was by initiated by Rabindranath Tagore in Santiniketan and then by Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, the freedom fighter, educationist and politician, in the 1950s. 

“Today our summers are getting hotter, monsoons shorter and crops are failing due to changes in climate. As it is, only one-third of our earth is land and even this limited space faces pressures of population and urbanisation. So it’s up to us to plant more trees. Even an inch of cultivable space should not be left empty,” said Pandey. 

Sristi Saha of Begum Rokeya Smriti Balika Vidyalaya won the art contest in the senior section, with her painting of green-coloured lungs. “If we destroy trees, we destroy ourselves,” she said. Rahul Dey and Somsuta Paul, who came second and third respectively, planted a mango tree. “Now every time we drive past it we’ll be wondering how big this tree has grown,” they said.