Green Latur Vruksha Team: The team that turned a barren city into a forest

Latur, the city that faced a severe water famine, which was at that time defamed and disreputed as the city that brought the water through the railway. The city that simultaneously faced severe droughts and as a result there was an acute decrease in the number of trees in the city, that made it look scraggy and arid.

Such disastrous conditions gave rise to the Latur Vruksha Chalval (Movement). At the beginning the trees we being planted on a small scale and on specific occasions, but from 1st June 2019 the Green Latur Vruksha Team took all the responsibility on its shoulders, freshly started planting trees and conserving them and the work is still being done continuously and ceaselessly. The team that has worked ceaselessly for 1344 days, has planted more than 1,00,050 small and big trees across city and also preserved the previously planted trees in the city. Within no time it turned out to be an unbelievable work and the entire Latur city turned into a green city. Schools, Colleges, Temples, Mosques, Graveyard, Seminary, Railway Station, Bus stand, Police station, District Court, the road sideways, the road dividers, Greenbelts, everywhere, thousands of trees were planted. While this was going on, all the planted trees were being watered by 5 to 6 tankers on the rotation basis, except on the rainy days. During all the work that is being carried out by the team, the team has no President, Vice-president or a secretary, the team neither has any registration nor any bank account. When we go ho through the Official estimate sheet, Green Latur Vruksha Team has saved Government’s 50 crores. Green Latur Vriksha Team consists of 70 to 80 members, and every member of the team gains the sponsorship from their friends on their birthdays in forms of trees and tankers. The team doesnt hold any meetings regarding the everyday work, the planning is done through only a whatsapp group.
Neem, Banyan, Peepal, Spanish cherry, Lagerstroemia, Bauhinia, Arjun, Kadamb, Mahogany, Shirish, Raintree, Gulmohar, Indian bael , Tamarind, Non flowering jasmine like native trees are given priority while planting, with this other ornamental plants are planted in order to decorate the city and the dividers.

Today when you go on any main road of the city you will have an mesmerising experience of walking under the tunnel of trees naturally formed by overlapping of the trees on the sideways and the dividers of the road.

Today the citizens from every nook and corner of the city come together with the aim of Green Latur and perform their part of duty. Doctor, Advocate, Engineer, Shopkeeper, Teacher, Progressive farmer, Student, Police everyone come together in the morning at 5:30 am and contribute voluntarily for four hours upto 9:30 am.

In the Summers of 2022, due to the plantation of more than 1,00,050 trees in 1344 days, the temperature of Latur city was under 39-40-41 degree Celsius, where the temperature of surrounding districts rose to 41-42-43 degree Celsius. For planting trees thousands of pits are digged, which have particularly 2 feet of depth and height, which further led to the water replenishment in the ground. The pollution in the city has been decreased to a great extent.

To create a awareness and enthusiasm of planting trees among the citizens various programmes like gardening competition, Bonsai making competition, workshops regarding how to fill the soil in pots, the Best kitchen garden competition, Terrace gardening competitions, a Tree Ganesha Murti making competition, One house one tree programme, One child one tree programme, Distribution of seedballs, Distribution of seeds as prashad in the temples were carried out by the team. The work was continued without stopping in Covid period also.

Various local awards, State level awards along with awards from international environmental organisations have been conferred upon the team.
Along with this a free of cost programme of gathering different local seeds and sowing them have also been started by the team.

Nearly in 25 Greenbelts, Grazing land and bus stand regions, huge pits are digged which are filled with stones, sand and grit in order to naturally refill the water. Also awareness is being spread through social media handles to harvest water in every possible ways.

The team responsible for turning the Concrete city into a Green Forest.
🌳Green Latur Vruksha Team🌳