Corporate houses for greenery in Kolkata

Kolkata, Oct 19 (UNI) Today when several advertising agencies are involved in chopping trees to satisfy their clients for the display of products, there are some business houses working to make the city green and checking environmental degradation.

Working together, the West Bengal Forest department and Syndicate Bank have come forward to fund plantation and caring of saplings in selected areas.

Departmental sources said the nationalised bank had sponsored iron cages for covering all saplings for their protection. The bank authorities also assured not to use trees to display their advertisements.

Besides, some ad agencies have taken initiative to enhance greenery by planting saplings across the city. As part of their corporate social responsibility, the agencies have also assured not to resort to illegal acts of felling trees for commercial gains.

Meanwhile, the city's first ''green building'', with a manoeuvrable shell-like exterior designed to let in sunshine in winter and deflect heat in summer, will come up in Salt Lake's DD Block by 2010.

''A notable aspect of the building is that air-conditioning won't be required in the buliding for most of the time. It can be a pioneer in reducing the emission of CFCs, released by ACs, which deplete the protective Ozone layer, thereby exposing people to harmful UV rays from the sun, causing skin cancer and other such diseases,'' sources at the West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited said.

Such projects will reduce dependence on air-conditioning, which also means less emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, and moving towards eco-friendly settlements.

Realtors are also endeavouring for eco-friendly settlements. One of the major projects in the city, Bengal NRI project, is planning for a green cover for its proposed housing complex covering a 65-acre area. It comprises an open space, complete with a landscaped garden, created by some of the prominent horticulturists.

''We will plant thousands of trees to create a green cover,'' project sources revealed, adding that besides planting saplings, as many as 5,000 full-grown trees would be transplanted there from across the city and its outskirts with special care.

Following the footsteps of Delhi and Mumbai, the Left Front government here also plans to make it mandatory for three-wheelers to switch to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG).

The West Bengal government has also ordered its departments to ensure that all vehicles run by them start following Bharat Stage III or Euro III norms.

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