While the world offers a collective sigh in response to any headline regarding deforestation or the impending cataclysmic effect of climate change, a city in Chattisgarh is taking matters into their own hands. Raipur wasn’t making just another statement when they said that they were “planting trees on wherever land is available,” and are creating their own microcosmic forest within the district. Omprakash Choudhary, the District Collector of Raipur, and his team are reforesting areas right at the heart of the city.

Approximately 18-acres of land is being allocated to creating an ‘oxy-zone’ or a natural forest area that would provide the city its much needed breeze of cleaner air. Raipur is the seventh most polluted city in the world and this project reflects an awknowledgment that this rampant pollution has gone on for too long. The structure behind the oxy-zone was inspired by New York City’s Central Park and the city government has gone with the decision to clear plots of land worth INR 1,000 crore - all occupied by commercial projects. So while the rest of the world is clearing forests to create space for large and profitable infrastructure, Raipur is flipping the coin over and demolishing buildings to plant trees in their place.

So far, 95% of the government office buildings that the 18-acre land once housed have been demolished and no new buildings are to be constructed. Only 5% of the buildings are not in shambles or in dilapidated conditions, and are proposed to be used as museums and cultural centres. And this project extends its reach beyond the flora, where the 80 or so families living around the plot have been shifted and rehabilitated into better housing facilities. The idea behind these zones wasn’t to make them into recreational spaces, with manicured lawns and gardens, but instead be a untamed home for a wide species of trees and plants. They will also be provided with water bodies that will serve to replenish the ground water in the vicinity.

The saplings are scheduled to be planted this monsoon season and the project is anticipated to be completed in the next 10 months. And Raipur isn’t just stopping there, “We de-silted and restored 28 ponds in the city that were polluted with sewage water. Land is scarce here, but we are trying to make maximum use of the available land to plant trees – road sides, cremation grounds, alongside ponds etc. We have enforced new measures that effectively reduce the pollution caused by coal industries. Vehicular emission tests are also made stringent,” said Omprakash Choudhary in an interview with The Better India. He also discussed his plans to plant banyan trees in particular because they produce relatively more oxygen in comparison to other trees. The way things are shaping up coupled with the city of Raipur’s enthusiam suggests that by 2020, Raipur could be a shining example of effective environmental conservationism