Till 10 years ago, many roadside trees not only gave plenty of shade but also protected the environment from pollution. Rain at periodical intervals brought in cheers then. Farmers were happy with their produce.
However, over a period, things have changed, though not for good. From an ecological perspective, the ancient city has witnessed robust growth at the cost of environment. The residents are experiencing extremes now in weather pattern all due to the imbalance in nature and it was time they were rectified.
With the sole objective of restoring the pristine glory, the district administration has set a goal to rope in an ‘army’ of students for planting saplings. Named ‘Maasilla Madurai’, the initiative is to protect the environment. “What was destroyed by us in the past shall be brought back only by us” is the message being shared loudly on campuses and social media network.
Speaking to The Hindu , Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao shared the interactions he had with students and faculty members from different colleges over the last four months. “Instead of telling them what I intend to do for the district, I made them (students) come out with what they felt should be done for Madurai.”
He said that out of the 3.75 lakh hectares of land available in the district, close to 1.65 lakh ha remained barren. About 1.25 lakh ha was under cultivable area and another 60,000 ha was built up area.
There were about 30 colleges, where students pursued arts and science, engineering, law and medicine. The task was to identify 100 students from each institution and plant 10 saplings each, wherever they wanted. As more participants volunteered, in less than 100 days, other stakeholders, such as members of service organisations, too were given the responsibility of planting saplings. “I wish the programme turned into a people’s movement,” he said.
The forest officials said that there were many varieties of saplings which required minimum water or no water. With north-east monsoon setting in, it was the right time to plant saplings. Presently, the district has a forest cover of 23,000 hectares.
Students from Lady Doak College, Fatima College, Sri Meenakshi Government College for Women, Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College, Sourashtra College, Madura College, American College, Thiagarajar College, Saraswathi Narayanan College, KLN Colleges, Solamalai College of Engineering, Velammal College of Engineering and Medical College, Law College et al., have been interacting with the Collector on a monthly basis. Though the topics were on different issues, the core idea revolved around greening Madurai, faculty members and representatives of the educational institutions shared with The Hindu .
Explaining ‘Maasilla Madurai’, Mr. Rao said that except for some old roads, where age-old trees remained intact, many stretches required tree cover. There was scope to bring back the lost shade in these regions.
“The idea has been sprinkled in the minds of youngsters. The next step is to create awareness and educate them to protect nature. The exercise shall be documented as it would enable us to follow up in future,” he noted.
The trees in Collectorate and all other government buildings, including the 13 block offices, have been numbered. This enumeration was carried out recently to record tree population, varieties and age, among others. He suggested to the public to conduct a similar exercise on their premises – be it a school or college, industry or hospital or private farmland.
Likewise, members of Tamil Nadu Traffic Improvement and Public Welfare Association have planned to plant one lakh saplings in and around Madurai. Last week, the Collector inaugurated the project. Interested public can contact them at 96003-88871, said its president M.V. Adaikkalaraj.
Not lagging behind, the Rotarians and Lions too have ventured to chip in by planting saplings and cleaning the Vaigai.
Madurai Divisional Forest Officer Samartha said that Forest department had planned to distribute 16,129 saplings to aspirants from September. The State government was keen on enhancing ‘green cover’ throughout the State. Interested persons could submit applications requesting free saplings. Based on the inspection of the premises and the availability of space and water, the department staff would issue saplings, he said.
He also appealed to the students to take up planting of saplings in a big way on their campuses and residential localities. The varieties of saplings ready for distribution by the department included ‘vembu’, ‘poongai’, teak, ‘vaagai’, etc.
