EVEN though this summer Capital is bountifully blessed with natural beauty of sorts ranging from mountain ranges to forests, to hillocks, lakes, river and streams; Srinagar could be the only tourist destination world over, where one hardly finds a natural sunshade in the form of trees alongside City roads.
 Except for Majestic Chinars, planted during the 16th century Mughal rule in areas like Poloview, there’s no natural sunshade elsewhere along the City roads.
 Even though some of the routes like the MA Road and the Airport Road have some trees, they are either decaying or haven’t been maintained properly. 

THE IRONY
 Country’s Capital New Delhi could be among the densely populated states, but when it comes to trees; almost all roads in this metropolitan City have a lustrous green lot dotting the expressways.
 On the other hand, even though Srinagar has a variety of natural beauty in the form of waterbodies like Dal, Nigeen and Anchaar, mountains like Zaberwan, forests like that on Sulaiman Hills, there’s little or no greenery along the roads.
 The planning on this front seems to be so poor that even the newly widened Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway which snakes along the south City between Athwajan and Parimpora, has no new plantation of trees as the iron frames erected for the purpose stand firm but empty along the Hyderpora bypass.
 And the results are obvious. During summers when the mercury soars to around 36 degree Celsius, one doesn’t find any natural sunshade along the roads.

EXPERT VIEW
 Prominent expert and Joint Director State Forest Research Institute, OP Sharma opines that ongoing spell till second week of April is ideal for tree plantation.
 He maintains that preference should be given to the plantation of the conifer trees, particularly Deodar.
 “Deodar groves need to be created in the Srinagar City in addition to Deodar line from Airport to Nishat. This tree looks graceful and remains green throughout the year. Its plantation will add beauty to the City landscape,” Sharma who recently completed a century of his popular, Tree Talk program, told Greater Kashmir.
 Referring to Nawroz, which coincides with VanaMahotsava on March 21, he said the day could boost the drive. 

MINISTER’S ENDEAVOR
 In a significant development Forest Minister, Mian Altaf Saturday inaugurated first of its kind Plants Sale Depot at Qamarwari where the government has put conifer saplings on sale.  The Minister is believed of being keen to make the plantation drive a success.
 Altaf himself planted a Deodar as a token to start the plantation drive while as per an official handout 10,000 seedlings have been kept for sale at the PC Depot Qamarwari.
 Minister convened a meeting of Forest officers directing them to sensitize the field staff to make the plantation drive a success.
 He said every unit like Territorial Forests, Social Forestry, Research Wing, Wildlife and others are individually responsible for achieving targets.
 Mian Altaf said the month of March always remains vital for Forest Department as all plantations are being made in this month.
 He directed the concerned officers to launch vigorous campaign for afforestation and involve Government departments, Education Institutions, NGOs and general public in the month long plantation drive.

PUBLIC OPINION
 Srinagarites in general believe that it’s high time for the people to come forward and pool money for plantation of conifers on vacant public land in the neighborhood if the government fails in the endeavor.
 “For that matter even Masjid Intizaamiyas should pool money to procure the Deodar saplings and plant them in their respective areas. It will be a lasting contribution towards the society,” said Sheikh Ghulam Mustafa, a senior member of a Jamia Masjid management committee at Pir Bagh.

OFFICIALS SPEAK
District Development Commissioner Baseer Ahmed Khan said the administration was working on similar lines.
“We are starting a drive soon and maximum emphasis will be on conifers trees,” Khan told Greater Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 IST