It all
started way back in 2004. Few youngsters and few seniors were passionate about mother-nature,
about environment, about the ecosystem. They came together and formed a small
group called ‘Green Hills Group’. The
motley group had doctors, engineers, bankers, entrepreneurs. But the diverse
group was always unanimous on one objective and that was to increase Pune’s
green cover, to keep Pune’s hills green. Over the last eighteen years (and
counting), this small idea blossomed into a vibrant community of around 125
passionate volunteers taking care of seven hills in and around Pune.
The hills of Chaturshingi, Hanuman tekdi, Vetal tekdi, ARAI hills and Vandevi have been transformed from barren swathes littered with plastic trash into green hills, blossoming trees and biodiversity full of chirping birds, insects and butterflies!
The group has been assiduously maintaining 18,000+ native trees and is targeting to plant, grow and maintain 125,000 trees by year 2025!
Contrary
to the popular notion (that planting trees before the onset of monsoon is the
only activity), the group has been active throughout the twelve months of a
year. The volunteers spend 2-3 hours of every Saturday/Sunday mornings for this
noble work.
Activities
like seed collection, planting them in nursery to have saplings, planting
saplings on hills in plantation drive, planning/repairing drip system for
watering, trench rework, grass cutting, flower collection (‘nirmalya’ including
coconut husks and plastic from Chatushringi temple during Navaratri – which would
otherwise be a colossal 20,000 kg trash), keeping close watch on wildfire in
summer and tree census make their yearly calendar brimming. Add to this the corporate
plantation drives, awareness camps, exhibitions, lectures/presentations at
colleges and you get the idea!
Owing to pandemic, the last two years had been quite challenging to the group. But the dedication and never-say-die attitude of volunteers saw them planting 4,000 indigenous trees in 2021. Geo-tagging of trees was undertaken, QR codes and Apps were used to collect/consolidate information.
The good work of Green Hills group has won numerous awards and accolades from state government to corporate chieftains to Sayaji Shinde’s Sahyadri Devrai. The group, founded by late Ravi Purandare and Shrikant Paranjape is now led by Sanjay Suryavanshi to achieve its green mission (‘125,000 trees amidst 25 projects by 2025’).
Wishing Green
Hills group best wishes in its noble pursuit!
