mumbai

Updated: Jun 18, 2017 23:19 IST

To make Mumbai greener, which is fast losing its trees to infrastructure projects, the Dawoodi Bohra community has decided to plant 40,000 trees in the city. The drive will mark the end of Ramzan.

More than 50 trees have already been planted near Horniman Circle and near community mosques and housing colonies in Mazgaon, Muhammad Ali Road, Malabar Hill and Andheri. The programme will be extended to other locations such as Santacruz, Kandivli, Thane and Mumbra.

“The community is encouraging its members to participate by planting trees (one to two years old). The holy month of Ramzan is known for devotion, prayers and expressing gratitude toward Allah. Such initiatives underline the significance of becoming an agent in preserving and nurturing nature,” said Taikhoom bhaisaheb Mohiyuddin, trustee of Burhani Foundation India.

Read: Mumbai professor plants 2.5K trees, pens short poems for a greener city

The drive is the brainchild of their spiritual leader Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, who wishes to plant 2 lakh trees across the globe. Every tree will be tagged with a number and a barcode to identify its location.

“Information such as date of plantation, species, length and location, will be documented on a web portal so that we can track the entire plantation drive,” said Mohiyuddin. “We will track health of trees in the future and take care of those which need attention.”

Trees will also be planted at Pune, Nashik , Lonavla, Kohlapur, Palghar and Dahanu.

“We are encouraging community members to get these trees from local nurseries and people have started planting trees without our help. We are getting the trees from Pune and Gujarat,” said Mohiyuddin. “We’ll be planting about 500 trees at Rani Baug, Byculla, upon receiving permission from the civic body’s tree department.”

Mohiyuddin said the initiative goes hand-in-hand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a clean and green India.

Read: 76% of saplings planted in Maharashtra last year have survived, claims government

“Looking at trees enlightens our eyes. Our his holiness has taught us this. There is an emotional and spiritual connect with such drives for each of us. It is like nurturing children and this is inherent in our religion,” he added.

Explaining the importance of such drives, Avick Sil, regional director of Environmental Policy Research Institute, said, “In comparison to loss of trees, we found that only 5% of transplanted trees were surviving in the city. As per the law states, three trees are supposed to be planted against every tree felled.”