Project "Greening ARAI/MIT Hilltop" by Green Hills Group
About
Green Hills Group, an NGO is a group of committed, like minded individuals who has been operating for 10 years in Pune for nurturing trees on hilltops in Pune. Until beginning of year 2010 the group had worked primarily on 2 hilltops in Pune, viz Hanuman Tekdi (Symbiosis Hill) and Chatushrungi Hill. After observing the work results on these two hilltops and commitment of people in this group, the Forest Department engaged the group officially for greening of the hilltop near ARAI / MIT college near Paud Road in Apr-May 2010. Around the same time, TATA MOTORS had approached the group with an intent to sponsor the plantation of trees. As a result an exclusive project was initiated under the sponsorship of Tata Motors to convert the 7-8 acres of barren land on the hilltop near ARAI/MIT, green.
On 24th July, Employees from Tata Motors, ARAI, Green Hills Group and children from nearby school planted close to 2500 trees and kicked off this project.
Location
The work under this project is being undertaken on the Hilltop which is situated near MIT College and ARAI and is displayed in the Google map below.
To North : ARAI Rear gate
Towards North-East : Sigma One Society
Towards East : MIT College
Towards West : Sutardara
View Larger Map
The total land covered under this project in 2010-2011 is a little over 7 Acres and has 3 common approaches
Approach :
1) While coming from Deccan, on Karve Road take the flyover that leads to Paud Road.
2) Immediately after the flyover within 20-25 meters there is a circle. Take a right at the circle and get on to the road that goes uphill towards ARAI. To either sides of this narrow road, you will find the densely populated Kelevadi Settlement.
3) After a couple of kilometers uphill drive one will reach the ARAI main Gate, which is a "dead end" for vehicles.
4) From this gate there is a 1 km walk along the ARAI wall to the back gate of ARAI and then further to the venue. One can also drive through ARAI main gate to reach the REAR Gate (one needs prior permission to enter ARAI). Approach is commonly used by Green Hills Group members to carry equipments, manure, Saplings, Water tanker, Motor/Water Pump etc.
Floura and Fauna
The page here lists all the trees that have been planted during the course of this project and
naturally found in the neighborhood. Animals that we have spotted include Hares, Deer, Peacocks and snakes.
Activities undertaken round the year for nurturing the plants include
- Planting new sapalings (involves procurement, finding sponsors, transporting them to hilltop at just in time, finding right place, getting people to do the work, digging pits/trenches, manure/water etc.)
- Watering in summers (involves transporting water to the hilltop and filling the water tanks to let the drip system irrigate the plants)
- Manure round the year - 2 times
- Continuous Soil work - gives best results
- Cutting Grass - to prevent fires and allow accessibility
- Managing Labour, payments, accounts
- Spreading the word (word of mouth, presentations, news / media), getting sponsors, coordinating the visits by corporates
- Protecting from Cattle, schools going kids and youth who wander on hilltops.
Core Team Members
Sanjay Athavle
Mahesh Paradkar
Jaswinder Singh
Keshav Patel
Nandinidevi Pantapratinidhi
Other Green Hill Members who visti very often
Patel from Persistent, Subhash Raste, Amod Pataskar, Chandan Desai
Corporate Sponsors / Supporters
Tata Motors
HSBC GLT
Sungaurd
ARAI
Devdhar Classes
IBM
Mahindra Engg
Cybage
Corporate Volunteers
LIC Of India
Cummins
Sungaurd
IBM
Persistent Systems
Diya Foundation
Individual Contributors, Well Wishers and Supporters
Sigma One Society Members : Aniruddha Joshi, Prashant Kodolikar, Shantanu Apte, Sunil Dane, Pramod Suyavanshi, Amit Devdhar, Ganesh Khedkar, Anil Chitakke, Aniruddha Mahajan
Partners, Vendors and Workers
Netafin
