Dr. Garudkar Vasundhara Abhiyan, Baner

l warming on local level. Baner Tukai hill is lesser known hill which was totally barren & degraded due to no trees , rock was exposed & no soil layer due to erosion for many years . Our Vasundhara Abhiyan Organization, who believes in "Think globally, act locally & respond personalty"
started afforestation of the hill in 2006. Our objective was not only tree plantation ,but conservation of soil, retention of water to increase groundwater table in surrounding areas & biodiversity conservation were our main objectives. The work started by making continues contour trenches around hill so that rain water flowing down hill is retained & available for trees & soil erosion is minimised. This is great example of rain water harvesting. Water thus retained in trenches recharges groundwater table rather than flowing down in drains. Then trees were planted in trenches. Trees chosen for plantation are of indigenous variety found around pune hills & in baner area such as, neem, bor, pipal, baniyan, bartondi, dhawda, medshengi , tetu, bahava etc etc. Initially it was very difficult to survive trees in Rocky & barren area with so soil layer, no shade at all. But our Vasundhara volunteers work on hill every Sunday morning for 3-4 hours. Some volunteers work even every day. This work includes tree plantation, watering trees, regular maintenance like Herbal pest control, grass cutting, repairing trenches, digging pits, filling pits with cocopit , dry leaves, soil & manure , mulching with dry leaves in summer season to reduce evaporation. We have built 24 water tanks in different areas by which watering trees is done in surrounding areas. Each of above work is done manually through human chain system. No machines are used except pumping in water tanks for higher areas. After ten years of non stop efforts , now we are getting very good & satisfactory results. We have around 10000+ trees of 150 different species. Some of trees now started flowering & fruiting.
65+ species of birds recorded , some of them are migratory birds using hill as passage during migration.
15-20 species of butterflies,
40-45 species of herbaceous flowers. After monsoon , hill is covered with beautiful small flowers like in kass plateau. Also snake, lizards, insects, reptiles, hairs, rodents are frequently seen on hill. Water table in surrounding areas is increased considerably. Soil layer also increased in such a way that now we don't need to get soil externally. Natural regeneration started due to increasing population of birds,bees & insects. This is all result of Vasundhara Abhiyan's continues & restless efforts. Now we have getting good support from residents nearby, colleges, corporate companies, doctors associations etc. Anyone willing to work towards mother earth we welcome them to work with us. We aim to transfer complete 150 acre of Baner hill in forest within next few years through people's participation. This year we also started conservation of Dehu Road hill with local people's participation.