Former students of Jadavpur University came forward to replant the uprooted trees in the sprawling campus, one of the green zones in the city. Cyclone Amphan uprooted nearly 70% of mature trees on the JU premises on May 20.
“Our entire campus was completely ravaged by the cyclone. We are proud of our green campus. I proposed to the university authorities that the uprooted trees must be replanted without delay, so that maximum of them can survive,” said Dipankar Das, a ’94 batch alumnus of architecture department. Many other alumni of the university joined his initiative, if not physically, certainly morally. The JU campus has more than 280 mature trees while the cyclone had uprooted over 150 of them.
“The university asked for an estimate. But I felt that much time would be wasted in proposing and approving the estimate. We might lose the time for replantation of the trees. That is why, I wanted to bear the cost. JU will reimburse it after proper evaluation,” he added. On Saturday, a team managed to erect 10 trees. “It may be a small step but can pave the way for replantation of Amphan-ravaged trees,” said Shankha Chowdhury, another alumni. A team of horticulturists and botanists, all ex-students of the university, will assess how many trees can be replanted.
Some trees need pruning and treatment of root system before they can be restored to their previous forms. Some trees are beyond any restoration. For these trees, they are being cut into big logs. Everything is being documented and video-graphed so that no question can be raised on the process, said JU sources
Some major arterial roads of the university campus have already been cleared, said a JU official.
Source: Times of India
