Bengaluru :

Students, corporates and NGOs have turned ‘bombers’ to save the city from becoming a concrete jungle. There is no cause for worry though, the ‘bombs’ aren’t explosives but mud balls that hold seeds.

If they come to pass any degraded land, they make a seedball and hurl it over the fencing or wall.
Some NGOs say that they have thrown over lakhs of seedballs in and around the city. Students and corporates say they have shot about thousands. The idea is to green the city once more.

One-foot Tall Forests
Uttishta Bharata, a Bengaluru-based NGO, took to seed-balling in 2015. In their first outing, the seedballs were scattered in the foothills of the Madhugiri mountains in Tumkuru. “The plants are now about one foot tall,” says Neeraj Kamath, co-ordinator with the NGO.

The same NGO, last year, tossed 3.5 lakh seedballs with the help of school students. “Some primary school students and those in Classes 8 to 10 participated in the seedball fest last June and they thoroughly enjoyed it,” says Asha, school teacher of Agara School.

Children Are Best Recruits

Hundreds of seedballs were distributed that were tossed along a 5 km stretch of Kanakapura Road, says Asha. “Children are the best people to do this,” says Neeraj. “They are enthusiastic and love throwing these balls.”  The appeal lies in the simplicity of throwing the seedballs instead of the elaborate digging.
The seedballs are thrown in common land areas on the side of the streets or the land surrounding the lakes.

Terra Taala, a social enterprise and a subsidiary of Art Plantz, a plant incubating platform, also started seed-balling (or seed bombing, as it is also known) in 2015. They conduct workshops for students and corporates and usually prefer scattering the seeds in the outskirts of the city such as Tumakuru, Kolar and villages beyond Bengaluru.

‘Green Terrorists are a Must’

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Regina Gurung / Express News Service / January 31st, 2017