Urban forester S.G. Neginhal succumbs to COVID-19
The Hindu
Many of Bengaluru’s tree-lined avenues and boulevards are his legacy
Urban forester and Indian Forest Service officer (retired) S.G. Neginhal, 93, who played a pioneering role in greening the city in the 1980s, succumbed to COVID-19 on Sunday morning. He passed away a day after his 93rd birthday on Saturday. Most of the tree-lined avenues and boulevards in Bengaluru are the legacy of Mr. Neginhal. Unhappy at the loss of green cover due to growth of the city, then chief minister R. Gundu Rao had commissioned a greening campaign. The IFS officer was brought in to lead a special cell within the Forest Department to take up the assignment in 1981. In five years, he planted over 1.5 million trees. The campaign earned him so much fame that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi got trees from Neginhal to plant in Shakti Sthal, the memorial for former prime minister Indira Gandhi. Harini Nagendra, ecologist and Professor of Sustainability at Azim Premji University, said Mr. Neginhal must be credited with pioneering citizen participation in urban forestry in the country. “He went from house to house, asking people what trees they wanted to be planted. This encouraged them to take up ownership of those trees, evident by how they have survived,” she said.The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.