Can rainwater harvesting and tree plantation make peacocks dance? Yes, the >New Mangalore Port has proved it possible. Be it near the coal storage area or the Railway marshalling yard, the peacocks dance and birds sing a new song here.

T. S. N. Murthy, Deputy Chairman, New Mangalore Port Trust, says the massive tree plantation drive and the rainwater harvesting processes adopted by the port have made this come true.

The beginning

It was in May 2010 that Murthy came to the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) as Deputy Chairman.

It was then that he noticed rain water overflowing near the Railway marshalling yard to the nearby village.

Sensing an opportunity to try rainwater harvesting in that area, he asked his team members to work on that. Following this, the area, which had a depth of one metre , was dug up to four metres.

This tank now can accommodate 43,184 kilo litres of water; over the years the water table in that area has gone up. In spite of heavy rainfall this monsoon, the water did not overflow to the nearby village, he says.

The biggest of the three water bodies in NMPT premises is situated near the staff colony.

Spread over 36,788 square metres of area, the water body near Thimmappaiah Well can hold around 1.10 lakh kilo litre of water. (the well was built three decades ago to supply drinking water to the port colony).

He says the circumference of this water body will be beautified and a track is to be laid for walkers. It can provide a walking track of 2.5 km, he says. According to him, another water body near the Customs Office can store up to 17,532 kilo litres of water.

To a query on the benefits of the water bodies, he says they have been created not just to store rainwater, but also to increase the ground water table in the port and vicinity as well.

This provides self sufficiency for the port during the non-monsoon seasons to mitigate the air and dust pollution inside and outside the port area.

Green belt

Water from the tanks is also used for the ‘green belt’ developed in the port area. Showing a new species of birds at the rainwater harvesting pond near the Railway marshalling yard, he says he could identify around 10 species of birds in the 2,500 acres of land belonging to the port in 2010.

“Now I can show you more than 100 species of birds here,” he says. Over the last three years, the port has planted nearly a lakh plants. The port area now has a green belt of more than 33 per cent, against the mandatory requirement of 30 per cent, he adds.

Behind the ‘green curtain’

When you visit some berths at the New Mangalore Port, you may get a chance to see vertically grown trees .

T.S.N. Murthy, Deputy Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust, says most of them were planted three years ago to act as a ‘green’ curtain.

This curtain of trees along the berths or storage areas will help arrest dust flowing into the area. The same strategy is being adopted while planting trees on the periphery of the port premises also, he said.

Showing the berth no. 13, which is being set up to handle crude oil cargo, he says around 260 saplings of Washingtonia filifera (a species of palm family) have been planted by the side of the berth. He says these trees give a different look to the berth when they grow up.

“You would not have seen systematic growth of plants besides the berth like this in other ports,” he says.

Weaver birds visit the area to collect the thread-like structure on the leaves of this plant to build nests, he says.

Even the waste gathered from the timber handling yard is stored in a place so that it can be used as manure for plants that grow in the port premises, he says.

The bidders who bid for civil works such as construction of berths have been asked to earmark the amount for environmental protection work like this, Murthy adds.

> vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in

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