Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 7: Lockdown and rains have failed to deter Jeeth Milan Roche and his enthusiastic team from going ahead with their efforts to provide green cover to the city's dumping yard at Pachchanadi. At a time when no one wants to even go near the dumping yard because of its nauseating stench, Roche is engrossed with planting saplings around the garbage processing unit there.

The dumping yard is located in 37 acres of land, and Roche has been planting saplings near the compound wall of the dump. He has already planted 2,000 saplings and plans to plant about 5,000 saplings in about three to four weeks’ time, by creating lines of eight to nine trees inside the compound wall.

Because of coronavirus fear, many members of Roche's team are unable to participate in the initiative as their family members are stopping them. Roche has continued to plant saplings in association with a voluntary organisation, 'Mangalore Green Brigade'. The volunteers work hard the whole day, and at the end of the day, they go back home tired and drained, having worked to dig land filled with waste like plastic, glass and clothes. They have to lift bags of saplings, each of which weighs around 20 to 30 kg.

Mangaluru Smart City Project and forest department have been supplying the saplings to them. Roche has collected a big chunk of 10,000 saplings acquired by Smart City Project. The saplings are of different varieties, like fruit-bearing trees, teakwood trees, rosewood, and others. The trees he had planted eight years back are bearing fruits now.

Jeeth, a resident of Morgans Gate here, has planted thousands of saplings by the roadside. He has stopped doing so, as he helplessly watched electricity board, city corporation, hoarding companies, telecom companies etc either uprooting the saplings or cutting down trees in no time.