In order to get more inputs on the DD Urs Road tree planting plans, my business partner and friend, Suraj met someone who had already did this earlier. It seems that he is the one responsible for the few trees that exist on the road now. The road boasted of many more trees some years back, most of those planted by him. Indifference, rowdyism and dishonest motives of people with respect to trees of the road have taken their toll on him. These days, he plants trees at places which are not likely to be touched by people. He claims to have planted about 10,000 trees till date which is easily believable considering his knowledge of the trees.

Here is a real incident as narrated by him: “Some years back, I asked the local corporator to join me in planting a tree. He came, planted the sapling himself, posed for the photos and left. A few days later, someone had vandalized the sapling and I planted another one in its place. The reason for the vandal was that a advertisement board had to be seen in place of the sapling. This time again it was vandalized. After the third one perished, I went to the corporator who had planted the tree. I came back with an indifferent advice from him, ‘Someone wants to make money by displaying his ad. Let him make money. Why do you bother about a tree?’ “. There were more stories from him. All of a different type. His advice to us now is, “Channel your efforts on some other place. It would be far more useful to the environment”.

I won’t be taking his name here. The story is what matters. My question is, does it really help the cause if we do not solve the problem areas first? Anyway, our job at Sapgreen is to take this proposal forward. The result though is not in our hands. We won’t stop our efforts though.

And finally, do check out this page: Sapgreen Accounts. All our financial details are published to the best possible extent here. Its an effort with many motives. One is to make our operations more transparent. This could also serve as a case study for tree planting. Also, we could benefit if it interests you and you provide some feedback on this.