Mysuru: Notwithstanding the city’s reputation of being counted among the cleanest in the country, it is hardly uncommon to find mounds of garbage rearing their messy heads out, mottling an otherwise pleasant backdrop like blackheads on the texture of a smooth skin. It does not help that the civic agencies entrusted with the task of maintaining a clean city are generally apathetic to problems such as collection of garbage at these undesignated dumpyards. In such a scenario, it boils down to citizens to rid their cityscape of such blemishes, and turn Mysuru into the beautiful city it is.It is precisely with this aim that ‘Tree Lovers Club’, an NGO keen on preserving the city’s fragile ecosystem, decided to take matters into its hands. In order to prevent people from dumping garbage at vacant sites, members of the NGO decided to turn them into stakeholders. They have come up with the unique initiative of turning these properties into part kitchen garden, part flower garden, while the rest of the space will be used to plant saplings of fruit-bearing trees.The NGO has tried to show the owners of these vacant sites the twin benefits of allowing their plots to be turned into gardens – besides prevention of garbage being dumped at sites, planting saplings will enhance greencover in the city. Moreover, members of the NGO have convinced the residents of areas with an abundance of vacant sites that turning these plots into gardens will also lead them towards self-sufficiency in the management of wet waste.The novel initiative took off with the planting of as many as 200 saplings at Wild Grass Layout in Vijayanagar III Stage, and the NGO is now keen on taking the idea to other parts of the city. In a bid to make things easier, the NGO has urged both the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) to allow neighbours to transform vacant plots into kitchen gardens President of Tree Lovers Club Mandetira Subramani, a retired non-commissioner officer from the accounts branch of the Indian Air Force, said, “There are plenty of vacant sites in Mysuru. We thought that, by encouraging residents to cultivate vegetables and fruits in these sites, we can put an end to the menace of trash being dumped in these properties.”Subramani said that proliferation of weeds at vacant sites often led them to become safe havens for snakes and rodents.An offshoot of VeKare, a trust formed by former servicemen, Tree Lovers Club is going ahead with its initiative with permission from the civic agencies. Subramani also added that it was important to obtain prior permission from the property owners before they could start planting saplings. “If Muda and MCC encourage residents, there will be no hassles in taking this initiative forward,” he said.Convener of the environmental committee of Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) Venkatesh Kharidi was effusive in his appreciation for Tree Lovers’ Club and their unique initiative. “It will be quite a task to compile a list of the owners, and subsequently take their permission to cultivate a kitchen garden. But, this will definitely help maintain cleanliness in all areas,” Kharidi told TOI.He added that such endeavours would considerably ease the burden on the MCC since a significant amount of wet waste could be turned into compost to maintain a kitchen garden. “The MGP will join the Tree Lovers Club to support this initiative,” Kharidi said.Founder of Parisara Samrakshana Samithi Bhanu Mohan said that, once the consent of the site owners was obtained, there would be no hurdles to proceeding with this initiative. “This district administration must come forward to support this,” Mohan said.- (Shivendra Urs)

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