Civic body rolls out the green carpet

Barpet grass brought in from Hyderabad will give city a london-look

If Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is to be believed, Mumbai is all set to get a makeover. And though there have been talks about making the country’s financial capital into a ‘world class’ city like Shanghai, the civic body has now decided to go on a different route.

Impressed by the lush green spots all over London, BMC has now decided to give Mumbai a similar look. The civic body has initiated a beautification project and wants to plant carpet grass on dividers/medians and tree basing all across the city.

As part of its pilot project to beautify the city, more importantly the tourist spots, BMC has already undertaken the beautification of A-ward (Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Churchgate, Fort). As part of the initiative that kicked off in January this year, BMC has beautified around 12km of dividers/medians and has carried out tree basing of around 2,300 trees in the ward.

RA Rajeev, additional municipal commissioner and the man behind the beautification plan, said” “In most countries abroad, not even an inch of land is left open. They are all covered with grass.

We decided to carry out carpet grass in Mumbai because once summer sets in the soil become dust, and during monsoon it becomes wet and muddy. This results in different types of pollution and dirt. However, with carpet grassing, the soil will be covered with a lush green cover and colourful flowers.”

He further said that all the medians of the city will also sport a similar look by next year. “We have already started work in other wards as well. Also, work will be carried out by different contractors in each ward,” he added.

V Balamwar, assistant municipal commissioner of A-ward, told DNA, “We have been using around 35 tankers of water on a daily basis in summer to ensure that the grass doesn’t go dry.”

According to Balamwar, the beautification of the entire city will cost around Rs35 lakh. “We also want to plant colourful shrubs on the divider as well as fragrant flowers on the lawn bed outside Churchgate station,” he said, adding, that plants like Cana, Pisonia, Tikoma, Daisy, Gajenia, Lilly and Euphorbia have already been planted. 

An 800 meter long nursery which will house a wide variety of plants and shrubs will also be set up in the next six months. “This nursery will help all the wards in the city to acquire any plant with ease,” said Balamwar.