‘Think, eat and save’ for a greener environment. This was the pledge taken at the celebrations organised by various institutions across the city on Wednesday to mark World Environment Day. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy planted a sapling on the premises of Sarvodaya Vidyalaya to open the celebrations organised by the Forest Department and Department of Environment and Climate Change.
Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor distributed the Vanamitra awards 2012 for best environment conservation activities taken up under various departments. Minister for Education P.K. Abdu Rabb inaugurated the fifth phase of the Haritha Keralam project by distributing saplings to school students. This year, it is envisaged to plant 34 lakh saplings with the help of schoolchildren. Four lakh saplings for colleges and eight lakh saplings for local self-governments will be distributed as part of the scheme.
Members of eco-clubs from city schools held a meeting at the Kanakakunnu Palace grounds. The children joined Minister for Agriculture K.P. Mohanan in planting saplings on the premises.
A team of Student Police Cadets (SPC) from SMV Model School distributed cloth bags to shoppers, urging them to reduce use of plastic.
‘A shade for Tomorrow’, a tree planting drive undertaken from Shoranur to Parassala by the Southern Railway and the National Cadets Corps (NCC) in association with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Forest Department, was kicked off at the Parassala railway station here.
About 1.25 lakh saplings will be planted in the vacant land belonging to the Railways on all Saturdays this month by the NCC cadets under the project. The places identified are Thiruvananthapuram, Varkala, Kollam, Mavelikara, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Aluva, Chalakkudi and Thrissur.
Poet Sugathakumari inaugurated Neyyar Haritha Theeram Project on the premises of Aruvippuram Madom. The project is a joint initiative of the Academy for Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (AMAS), Neyyatinkara; WWF-India; Kerala Forests & Wildlife Department; National Service Scheme; 44 wards of 11 grama panchayats; and 12 municipal wards along the banks of the Neyyar river from Kallikkad to Poovar. The project is aimed at protecting the banks of the river by planting 10,000 bamboo seedlings on either side.
In all, 101 tree saplings were planted on the premises of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) at Vellayambalam.
GSE (Go Green Save Earth), a service enterprise run by a group of young professionals in the city planted 300 saplings and distributed 200 saplings at Technopark. The team also visited Technopark and distributed saplings free of cost.
