River traffic police to plant 20,000 saplings in 60 seconds along Hooghly

KOLKATA: This Sunday, the River Traffic Police plans to plant 20,000 saplings along the Hooghly river banks in 60 seconds. That’s not all, under the ‘Clean City – Green City’ initiative, Kolkata Police has made 17-point programme to make the city greener and cleaner.
The project will include cleaning the banks of Hooghly, keeping area under each police station cleaner and removal of old banners and posters.
The drive will be implemented on a 90-km-stretch.
The event is likely to kickstart a sustained campaign to restore the ecology around the 90-kilometre-stretch of river banks extending till Konnagar-Panihati and Budge Budge on either side.
“We had a detailed discussion with the state forest department before we decided to embark on the plantation drive. Conventional sapling planting along the river banks, which would be counter-productive for it would obstruct the view. The forest department then suggested a few varieties of saplings of aquatic plants, which are short and stout and aide in reducing the salinity in the river water,” said a senior RTP officer said.
“While 20,000 saplings are nothing for a 90km stretch, but we see this as a good beginning to achieve a target of 4 lakh saplings over the next few years,” the officer said.
The saplings will also prevent the banks from erosion, added the officer.
The RTP has already roped in CESC, Customs, the forest department, NGOs and local clubs to achieve their recordbreaking target.
“This project is part of the ‘Clean City – Green City’ initiative of the state government. To spread awareness on this, we will also organize seminar on the Commissionerate Jetty,” an officer said.
“We are taking this initiative after the corporates took keen interest in the project. While CII has pledged support, some PSUs are interested to be involved through CSR projects,” said DC port Syed Waquar Raza.