Thane: Following the massive loss of green cover in the city, local activists and alert residents have now started various initiatives for conserving the remaining trees in their respective areas.A society in Pokhran has taken the onus of involving children and painting creative designs on trees using natural colours like lime and red ochre which they claim would not just add to the beauty of these green elements but also bring in a sense of ownership among residents and at the same time help protect the trees from insect attacks.“We have an old peepal tree with a huge girth right near the entrance and we were working on trying to beautify it during the festive season when we thought of this idea and children readily agreed to participate.” Though it was initially restricted to one tree, Jayant Parkhe, secretary of the society, said they would expand the initiative to other trees in their compound as well.Activist Kasber Augustine also plans a similar initiative where he says he will be approaching schools and educational institutes and encouraging their students to participate to create Warli paintings or any other social messages on the tree trunks which would add an aesthetic look to the surroundings and also involve public participation in salvaging these green elements.Meanwhile, a group along Ghodbunder highway is also working towards creating dedicated teams who would monitor the well-being of trees in their respective localities. “We cannot rely solely on the municipal corporation to keep tabs on the green cover and so we are working on developing a group of local residents who would be actively involved in monitoring and protecting trees in their respective areas or even alert our core group if they spot any tree cover being damaged or likely to be affected by any infra works,” said a resident.
