Mysuru City Corporation has launched Bharat Vann, an urban afforestation initiative that will plant two lakh saplings across eight city parks using the Japanese Miyawaki method. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the initiative by planting a jackfruit sapling at Kempu Chaluvarajammanni Layout on Friday.
The project is being implemented under the civic body’s Namma Mysuru Namma Koduge programme and aligned with the Union government’s Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign. The Bharat Vann site at the layout has been designed in the shape of Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles.
As part of the launch, 600 students from various schools, along with members of non-governmental organisations, planted 40,000 saplings representing 48 species across two parks spread over 3.28 acres in K C Layout on Lalitha Mahal Road. Another 500 students and NGO members planted 60,000 saplings in six parks in Vijayanagar Fourth Stage.
Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner M K Savitha said the remaining one lakh saplings would be planted within a week. The civic body has provided the park land and is arranging water through overhead tanks for the two K C Layout parks and a borewell for the six parks in Vijayanagar Fourth Stage.
The saplings will be procured, planted and maintained for three years by NGOs working with funding from State Bank of India’s corporate social responsibility programme. Enviro Creators Foundation will manage plantations in five parks, while CATCH Foundation will work in three parks. After the three-year maintenance period, the corporation will take over the parks.
CATCH Foundation will plant 35,000 saplings across 2.17 acres in one K C Layout park. It will also plant 25,000 saplings in Park No. 14, spread over 2.47 acres, and 40,000 saplings in Park No. 6, also known as Diamond Park, covering 3.95 acres near the high-tension double road in Vijayanagar Fourth Stage.
Enviro Creators Foundation will plant 5,000 saplings in a 1.11-acre K C Layout park, 75,000 saplings across 6.22 acres in Parks 18 and 19 near Gravity Apartment, and 10,000 saplings each in Park No. 2 and Park No. 3 near the high-tension double road. The plantations will include species such as jamun, amla, pongamia, neem, ficus, peepal, banyan, jackfruit, tamarind, nagalinga, kadambari and wood apple.
MCC Assistant Executive Engineer P K Mohan Kumar said the corporation had earlier developed five parks using a similar approach, with a reported survival rate of 95%. These included plantations in Rajiv Nagar, Vijayanagar Third Stage, Jodi Bevinamara Park in Dattagalli and Saalumarada Thimmakka Park in Dattagalli. The earlier projects were supported by CSR funding from Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts and Toyota Accessories Development ME India.
According to Mohan Kumar, the multi-layered plantations, consisting of shrubs, sub-trees, trees, canopy species and bamboo, are intended to improve biodiversity, support groundwater recharge, reduce pollution, moderate local temperatures, prevent soil erosion and aid carbon sequestration. The corporation’s next stated milestone is to complete the remaining one lakh saplings within the week.
