Kochi: Soon, flowering plants and shade trees will decorate both sides of the two-km stretch from Arkkakadavu bridge to Eroor bridge, thanks to an initiative by the residents to plant 1,000 saplings on occasion of the World Environment Day on June 5.
This is not the first green initiative of the Eroor Islands Welfare Association who had earlier converted a waste dumping yard into a park, cleaned the river of weeds all around the island and planted flowering plants along a small stretch near Eroor.
“This time around, we'll be planting shade trees and flowering plants all along the entire road stretch in the island. Residents living by the road sides have agreed to maintain the plants. We've bought the saplings from Social Forestry division of the Forest Department," said Girija Vallabhan, General Secretary of the Association.
The residents aim Eroor to be a "cool village" in a decade and their earlier efforts in this regard are already showing results. "We've succeeded in bringing a green cover to the Puthenkulangara Shiva temple which now looks more like a garden with all types of flowering and shade trees. We maintain such green cover using drip irrigation and water harvesting methods," said Girija.
