A group, made up of about 35 residents from Mulund, has decided to do their bit to increase the green cover in the city. These residents are planting indigenous trees across the Eastern Express Highway and have so far, planted 109 trees. It all began with Jeetendra Rathod, a lawyer attached to the Bombay High Court and Family court, who moved to Mulund East nine months ago. Being a nature lover, he started exploring his neighbourhood with a particular attention to the trees. 

“It was April 2022. I was taking a morning walk along the Eastern Express Highway when I noticed that some of the trees were in a really bad condition. While some had died, some had plastic and thermocol dumped around them,” recalled Rathod, who cleaned the area around the trunk and watered the trees. It is then that he noticed some vacant space alongside the highways where trees could be planted. “So, I started planting the trees and soon met my first companion, Arundhati Shinde. We bought some saplings and planted them. But they died soon after and that’s when we realised that we need to plant grown trees so that they can withstand the wind coming from speeding vehicles,” he added.