Dharamsala on a mission to revive flora replaced by concrete jungles

Raghav Guleria

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Dharamsala, July 19

A massive plantation drive has been envisioned for Dharamsala starting July 28. The campaign aims to revitalise parks, vacant land and areas along roads in the wards of the town, probably to compensate for the massive ‘concretisation’ of the town in the name of making it ‘smart’ under the Smart City project.

Previously, massive Jakranda trees — often regarded as the pride of Dharamsala — adorned Smart Road, bearing purple flowers every spring. However, these were cut to pave way for trenches.

Last green patch saved

The Tribune in these columns on February 10 had highlighted the issue of tree felling in Dharamsala in a story titled ‘20 heritage trees felled in D’sala for ‘smart’ road widening project’. Tree Officer Tanvi Gupta stated on record that there was no felling permission accorded to cut this grove of trees outside the SP’s residence. Subsequently, it got saved and, at present, is the only thick green patch left on Smart Road.

Instead of setting up a Lingru (fiddlehead fern) farm, lakhs of rupees were “recklessly” used in installing a marble Lingru statue at a chowk in Dari near Dharamsala.

Taking note of the need of the hour, Dharamsala Municipal Commissioner Zafar Iqbal has planned to provide a green cover to the town on an unprecedented scale, with the tally likely to exceed the 5,000 mark.

Horticulture and Forest departments have joined hands to execute the task.

While the departments are selecting species for the campaign, Tree Officer Tanvi Gupta, and her team, is identifying the pastures available for the task. The Municipal Commissioner, who is also the CEO-cum-MD of the Smart City project, while talking to The Tribune said, “To create an ambience which provides a green look to the town, which sees heavy tourist footfall, a plantation campaign is being carried out across Dharamsala this monsoon. To make it an instant success, all sections of society are being involved in the plantation and the subsequent upkeep of these trees. Local sponsors have come forward and the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers will join the drive to make Dharamsala clean and green.”

This exercise would mean that flowers, fragrant plants, vines and creepers would be planted along the entire stretch of Smart Road — from Kotwali Bazaar to the Education Board building.

Various types of fruit-bearing, medicinal and flowering plants would be planted at various roads, parks, squares and vacant land under the jurisdiction of the MC.

It was learnt that the Urban Forestry team and Green Fund would go a long way in keeping the greenery intact. According to sources, the committee that gives permission to cut trees is being asked to become a part of the plantation as well.

This initiative of the MC is probably to offset the negative impact of large-scale ‘concretisation’ the town has witnessed in recent years, which had eaten up green pastures, opines Ramesh, a resident of the Dari ward.