OUR FOURTH ANNIVERSARY! We turned FOUR this October 2! Quite an extraordinary feat for us - a group of ordinary citizens trying to do their bit for the betterment of Delhi's environment. We celebrated the day in our usual style - by conducting a cleanliness drive. We have been working quite actively in Rani Bagh for the past two years. We have planted various native trees on a median (road divider) here. Government agencies clean public places such as parks, roads etc. but medians are ignored for some reason. Further, this median is a victim of brutal levels of local garbage dumping. So we decided to clean this place to ensure a healthy environment for our saplings, so that they ensure a healthy environment for us. We also engaged locals around, who were very cooperative in assisting us during the drive not only with actual work but also with kindness to treat all of us with refreshments. We began by tying some banners pin the median grill. These banners have

15 MORE SAPLINGS PLANTED! You just can't stop our volunteers! They planted 15 uprooted tall peepal saplings in Sandesh Vihar park yesterday! Such humble efforts can lead to tremendous results! Kudos to these people!

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY! Our team decided to celebrate it with our BEST FRIENDS FOREVER - literally - our native trees! TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 800+ We assembled at Sandesh Vihar district park early morning with a very pleasant weather! Our team watered our saplings we planted recently: https://www.facebook.com/pg/WeMeanToCleanMeetup/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1278769088922320 We couldn't resist ourselves from planting a few more saplings. We planted some semal and alstonia, taking our total plantation to cross 800 saplings this monsoon! We planted semal in the vacant tree guards in this park. Once again, we utilized home-made compost as nutrition for these saplings.

80 SAPLINGS PLANTED IN LOK VIHAR TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 790+ The morning was pleasant, perfect for yet another plantation day. We had a good number of volunteers present. We planted amaltas, neem, baheda, papdi and imli saplings. We also utilized home-made compost as nutrition for these saplings. A few locals also joined us and assured to take care of the saplings by watering them. Thanks to such noble souls! We also watered some of our saplings we planted in Rani Bagh recently: https://www.facebook.com/pg/WeMeanToCleanMeetup/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1301160613349834 Do view these pics - there's an amaltas we planted last year. It has grown taller than us!

108 SAPLINGS PLANTED IN RANI BAGH TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 700+ We have successfully crossed our last year's count of 600 saplings and targeting to plant 1,000 saplings this year! We planted native saplings such as amaltas and semal here to support our ecology! Kudos to these people... so much care for our environment!

25+ SAPLINGS PLANTED IN RANI BAGH TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 600+ We have successfully crossed our last year's count and targeting to hit 1,000 saplings this year! Although we had a small plantation drive in Noida this morning: http://wemeantoclean.blogspot.com/2018/07/2018-monsoon-plantation-week-05-noida.html some of our volunteers couldn't resist to plant a few more at Rani Bagh. So much enthu! We planted native saplings such as amaltas, baheda, pilkhan and marodphali to support our ecology! Kudos to these people... so much care for our environment!

30+ SAPLINGS PLANTED IN NOIDA TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 600+ We have successfully crossed our last year's count and targeting to hit 1,000 saplings this year! After two days of continuous downpour there were literally dark clouds over our plan of plantation in Noida. However, mother nature heard us and helped us by asking the clouds to take a break! This Saturday morning we had a bunch of volunteers coming across from Noida and Delhi for this plantation drive. This venue is G Block park opposite to Amrapali Sapphire. Enthusiastic as ever, our volunteers got into the action pretty quickly. We planted trees such as imli, jamun, marodphali, peepal and neem here. All native, all good for our ecology! We had the support from Noida authority who helped us with pits and saplings as tall as 7 feet! Though we wanted a big plantation but apparently Noida authority themselves planted about 140 odd trees here. They have a target to plant 1 lakh trees by 15th

30 NATIVE SAPLINGS PLANTED! Week 04.1? Yes! Because this plantation was done today! Our volunteers are so enthusiastic they couldn't wait for the weekend. They decided to plant some native saplings this morning. Saplings such as neem, sheesham, semal and kachnar were planted at Rani Bagh - same place we planted last year. Kudos to these people for showing such a zeal! TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 530+

🌳 100 AMALTAS SAPLINGS PLANTED!!! 🌳 We are pleased to share that with the help of around 50+ volunteers - including kids from the nearby areas, college students and working adults - we have hit yet another century today. 🌳 We planted 100 amaltas saplings within a matter of two hours, although there was some interruption due to rains. 🌳 We have focused only on amaltas in this park because this area is frequented by goats. Goats don't feed on amaltas. 🌳 We could have planted more saplings but we were out of the scope of pits here. Our volunteers will visit the park mid-week and try to seek the DDA's assistance in removing weeds. Post that we'll see if we can plant any more saplings here. 🌳 Our total saplings count this monsoon season has hit 500! Yes, if you've been following our page, we had planted total 370 till last week, today's 100 and there's another set of ~30 saplings reported by other set of volunteers that they planted.

🌳 200 NATIVE SAPLINGS PLANTED!!! 🌳 Over 50 highly enthusiastic volunteers gathered this morning at Sainik Vihar district park for our weekly monsoon plantation drive. 🌳 We began with a significant talk about the importance of native trees for our ecology. In no time kids from around the area also joined us. 🌳 The kids were especially happy to plant the saplings. These highly energetic kids, along with our volunteers, planted 200 saplings of Amaltas in a matter of only two hours. 🌳 We selectively planted Amaltas here as goats frequent this park - goats do not eat Amaltas. 🌳 A team of volunteers and kids also did cleaning of the park area where we did plantation. 🌳 We concluded with an informative session on the importance of bringing back our native trees. 🌳200 Amaltas here... Sainik Vihar is going to be AMALTAS VIHAR! 🌳🌳🌳

🌳 120+ NATIVE TREE SAPLINGS PLANTED on SUNDAY! 🌳 It was possible only because of the hard efforts of our volunteers that we were able to plant 120+ tree saplings such as Peepal, Goolar, Arjun, Marodphali, Neem, Pilkhan, Amaltas, Imli, Amla, Papdi, Jamun, Kachnar, Mehndi and Shehtoot. 🌳 Our volunteers also fixed a young fallen Peepal tree by giving it support. 🌳 This season we'll plant a wide variety of saplings to aid biodiversity. It'll not only help in reducing air pollution effectively but will also help in improving our ecology. 🌳🌳🌳

Prasad Nagar lake has struck with certain government machinery-related challenges. Here's a video we shared live on our Facebook page describing the turn of events so far and how things stand:

🌳 50+ NATIVE TREE SAPLINGS PLANTED! 🌳 Thanks to our volunteers and locals. We've planted 50+ native tree saplings such as peepal, bargad, goolar, arjun, marodphali, neem, pilkhan and jamun. 🌳 This season we'll plant a wide variety of saplings to aid biodiversity. It'll not only help in reducing air pollution effectively but will also help in improving our ecology. 🌳🌳🌳

LET'S PLANT MORE TREES! Even as Delhi protests against the felling of 16,500+ trees in south Delhi, a couple of our volunteers have kicked off our plantation as we stare at the monsoon in coming few days. As usual, we are going to plant ONLY NATIVE INDIAN TREES such as peepal, neem, amaltas, banyan etc. and not ORNAMENTAL PALMS used by GOVERNMENT AGENCIES in their FAKE COMPENSATORY AFFORESTATION! We will start scheduling proper plantation drives on this with coming weekend. We will keep you posted with further details.

80+ SAPLINGS PLANTED! Today's updates: 1. The contractor finally began the desilting of lake but a couple of unfortunate incidents happened. A DJB pipeline broke and the water leaked into the lake, raising the water level. Things became difficult for the contractor as their machine partially submerged in water. 2. We are trying to get the DJP pipeline fixed at the earliest. We've also deployed a motor to pump out water. This water is being used to irrigate the surrounding garden. We had a buy-in of the DDA's horticulture department in this. 3. We also have the support of Mrs. Veena Virmani ji, Chairperson or North DMC, who is helping us by pushing this through with the government officials. 4. Apart from this, we also planted about 80+ bougainvillea saplings around the lake. These saplings will grow into a beautiful bush and will help in biodiversity of this area. It'll help attract butterflies and birds. We used lake water to irrig

Firstly, we are glad to share that DDA has recently formalised the contract for desilting of this lake. The contractor has begun the work. Now that the lake has dried up at an optimal level to begin work the contractor will utilize the machine to clear the lake of all the silt and rubbish. Following picture shows the state of the lake as on 10-Jun-18: Our team will also supplement their efforts by actually getting inside the lake and clearing the waste. As you may have observed in the above pictures, a lot of this waste comprises of clay utensils thrown into the lake by some people during Chath Pooja. Our team is going to clear this waste along with any plastic or glass bottles. Further, while we don't believe in forbidding anyone to practice their religious beliefs, we urge everyone to consider the environment while performing any actions. We are also planning to isolate one area of the lake that can be utilised to perform such religious activities. We

The amount of garbage we collected! Well, it's the ususal story wherever we go. And this is what we do! As a part of our whole effort towards reviving the lake, we are also looking at other important aspects - the surrounding ecosystem. It is important to have a clean environment. Our volunteers engaged in clearing litter from the surrounding garden not only to ensure it is clean but also to create awareness by action that it is our responsibility as citizens to keep our city clean.

We're into the fourth week of Prasad Nagar lake revival. Today, we started with creating awareness about various issues of the lake and how those can be tackled. Great thing is that a lot of locals understand these issues and have come together to help revive the park and the lake. They themselves talked about the importance of protecting the park as they realise how everyone gets benefited from the park and that it is everyone's duty to give back to the park. While they talked about it, a lot more locals gathered to listen. Soon after this, a team of locals put on gloves and started cleaning the periphery of the lake of all kinds of plastics, glass bottles and religious offerings. Another team of volunteers started cleaning the park area collecting plastics and food left by people near trees in different bags. The main highlight of today was the restoration of an old peepal tree. Everyday people, in the name of misplaced faith, put eatables such a

We met top DDA civil and horticulture officials today to pester them for initiating the lake cleaning process. The contracting of the cleaning is still under process so that is expected to be completed in the coming week. Brijesh Gupta ji, civil, has directed his department officials to pursue the matter aggressively and has also directed them to begin the cleaning of the lake latest by 5-7 June. Once the desilting process starts it can be completed within two weeks. Brijesh Gupta ji is well aware of the monsoon staring at us. So, even he is trying to get this process completed before rains hit Delhi. Gupta ji is also open to look at other options where the lake could be cleaned without even removing water out of it. He has requested a detailed proposal from us with all such options available along with the costing. If any of such methods are economically feasible, they shall also be explored and most possibly implemented. Harswaroop Singh ji, horticulture, has also of

CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH NATURE! In order to make people feel attached to Prasad Nagar Lake, we involved them in plantation in the lake park today. The gesture was well received and much appreciated by the locals. They pledged to take care of the saplings by watering them. Additionally, the locals also felt more enthusiastic about cleaning of the lake and agreed to cooperate by spreading awareness among the visitors on littering or dropping wheat flour balls in the lake. As for the actual cleaning process, we had a meeting with DDA officials yesterday, along with their contractor. While the contractor is fixated on the idea of removal of silt only when the lake dries up, we believe it's not possible this season. Thus, the DDA officials have sought our proposal on the same - how to clean the lake while it is still full of water. Our experts are drafting a proposal on the same and we are looking to submit the same during this week. However, till th

A very special day as the whole world celebrates Mother's Day today. Our team attempted to make people give a thought to another mother - the mother of all mothers - MOTHER NATURE! We asked people to display their love and commitment towards mother nature by hugging a tree! Also, as a part of our efforts to revive the lake we politely requested visitors not to put atta for ants around the trees as infestation by insects makes the area hollow and porous leading to a weak support for tree roots. At the worst trees can fall! Mother nature has equipped ants with enough sense to locate their food! We also requested not to keep bajra for pigeons as pigeons' population has disproportionately increased over the past years. And this has created an imbalance in the population of birds in our city. It has also affected sparrows, which are rare now! Mother nature has also equipped pigeons to locate their own food... they don't need us. We also requested not to put

The morning of 6-May-18 was very special. With a very strong support from our own volunteers, the concerned government officials and also encouraging support from the locals, we kicked off the revival of Prasad Nagar Lake. We also have the company of some relevant experts in the areas of biodiversity and water bodies revival - both by natural means and the utilisation of technology in a way it doesn't disturb the natural vibes of the place. Our experts team is currently chalking out the entire strategy to outline a proper methodical approach on the cleaning of this lake. Meanwhile, our other set of volunteers shall be creating awareness among the visitors of this lake. Please join us! We need a lot of support for this!

Delhi is one of the greenest capitals in the world yet one of the most polluted cities. Delhi recorded its hottest day in April yesterday at 42 ºC. Trees can help! But hey, only the right ones!!! So, with this thought we organized a nature walk on 29-Apr-18 at Prasad Nagar Lake. A huge number of people who turned up for our nature walk this morning! It's a delight to see there are so many people who care for our environment and want to do a lot to preserve it! While our own team member Bhuvan Chopra led the walk, educating people about native trees and their significance, our special guest was none other than Peepal Baba! Peepal Baba inspired us even more to get close to nature. The walk offered an opportunity for the attendees to immerse themselves in nature. It allowed them to learn about various native trees of Delhi. Trees such as peepal, banyan, neem, amaltas, pilkhan, marodphali, jaadi, mango, jamun etc. are of high ecological significance. These tree

Thanks to the efforts of our volunteers at Rani Bagh and Vikas Puri. We were able to remove more garbage from road medians today. This would help ensure clean surroundings for our saplings. Rani Bagh: 7 bags of garbage collected from a road median stretch of 120 meters by eight volunteers in 45 minutes Vikas Puri: 4 bags of garbage collected from a road median stretch of 90 meters by four volunteers in 45 minutes Our volunteers also watered our saplings. We are pleased to see such robust growth in a lot our saplings.

Kudos to the volunteers who helped cleaned areas around our saplings to ensure clean surroundings for them. Two teams worked simultaneously - Seven volunteers at Rani Bagh and four at Vikas Puri. They not only cleared off the garbage from those road medians but also watered our saplings.

WE MEAN TO CLEAN has been planting various ecologially beneficial trees in Delhi since the monsoon of 2017. We have been regularly watering our planted saplings. We have also started planting some fresh saplings to compensate for those that unfortunately didn't survive. This mini plantation was extra special. We got two valuable donations from two volunteers' families. A champa that had grown too big to be kept in a pot. And a jamun sapling which was grown at home. As usual, we also planted alstonia saplings at both Rani Bagh and Vikas Puri. It was heartening to see people coming from far off distances, once again proving that if you have the will and love for greenery, distance doesn't matter! Kudos to all these ordinary citizens for doing the extraordinary over and over again!

WE MEAN TO CLEAN has been planting various ecologially beneficial trees in Delhi since the monsoon of 2017. We have been regularly watering our planted saplings. We have also started planting some fresh saplings to compensate for those that unfortunately didn't survive. Thanks to our volunteers we were able to plant 10 new saplings, five each at Rani Bagh and Vikas Puri in a first simultaneous plantation drive at two locations! Guess what... we used home-made compost as nutrition for these new saplings. And we not only planted these new saplings but also watered our existing ones! Was a fun-filled and satisfying Sunday morning!

WE MEAN TO CLEAN has been planting various ecologially beneficial trees in Delhi since the monsoon of 2017. We have been regularly watering our planted saplings. We have also started planting some fresh saplings to compensate for those that unfortunately didn't survive. This morning brought us a surprise! We watered our saplings at Vikas Puri, Rani Bagh and Kirti Nagar. And as a surprise we planted about 20 saplings in Kirti Nagar. Thanks to our volunteers, we just LOVE them!