Adding a green lease to city life

Each one plant one — with this mission in mind, an NGO in the Capital, Hara Jeevan, has endeavoured to make seed bombs and disperse them in Neemrana forest area and do their bit to protect nature. “After eating fruits, we shouldn’t throw the seeds away. They can be used to grow more trees in future,” says Garima Saini, one of the founders of the NGO.

Volunteers, who had started collecting seeds, a month back, have made a trip to Behror to plant the seed bombs. “We have collected seeds of Neem, Banyan and Arjun trees. We wrapped them in a special kind of mud, which gives seeds a conducive condition to germinate. These seed bombs take some days to dry. After that, they will spread out in the Neemrana forest area,” says Manisha Saini, another member. But, what made them zero down on this particular area of Delhi-NCR? “One of our volunteers stays in that area and has his land there.”

For this event, people from all walks of life and age groups have taken active interest. “170 children from schools in Rohini and a kindergarten from Bali Nagar, are a part of the initiative. Sushma Chopra, the local councillor was present and Santosh Yadav, two-time Mt Everest climber, was our chief guest.” The children also performed a nukkad natak to spread awareness on tree plantation.

Approximately 6,000 seed bombs are being made and this process will continue till the target of 10,000 seed bombs is achieved. The drive to the Neemrana forest belt will take place by the end of July, where volunteers will scatter the seed bombs.

We wrapped them in a special kind of mud, which gives seeds a conducive condition to germinate MANISHA SAINI, NGO MEMBER