Scores of young ‘green’ warriors enthusiastically participated in the plantation drive organised by The Hindu in association with Essar Group on the occasion of World Environment Day at AP Tribal Welfare Residential School, Marikavalasa, on Monday.
After taking part in the plantation drive highlighting the year’s theme ‘Connecting People to Nature’, Divisional Railway Manager Mukul Saran Mathur, who was the chief guest, spoke about the importance of the day.
“Awareness about environmental issues is of utmost importance to protect our environment. As a society, we should focus on adopting non-conventional sources of energy like solar and wind energy to combat global climate change. Thermal power plants are among the major air-pollution causing sectors,” he told the gathering.
Mr. Mathur further urged people to utilise rail mode of transportation as it is cheaper and eco-friendly when compared to other modes like road and air.
Speaking on the occasion, K. Bhaktavatsalam, COO, Essar Steel, said Essar was committed towards environment protection in a sustained manner since the inception of the plant.
He advised the use of recyclable aluminium foil containers instead of plastic, which is a major polluting agent.
‘Chain mechanism’
D.S.Varma, Head-HR, Essar Steel, said till date more than 60,000 saplings were planted at different places in the city by the firm. He advised youngsters to protect nature by planting more saplings at their respective residential areas.
Sreenivas Rao, principal, AP Tribal Welfare Residential School, said every individual should make a goal to plant at least five saplings and urge others to do the same to create a chain mechanism for increasing the green cover and vegetation.
Speaking about the initiatives taken by AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), Sr. Environmental Engineer, APPCB, K. Srirama Murthy, said the Board recently developed ‘Green Soldiers’ concept for children below 10 years of age to impart environmental awareness among youngsters.
“Essar Steel has spent nearly ₹ 15 crore towards air pollution control equipments and control by replacing the multi-clones with ESP (Electrostatic Precipitators) to meet the stringent APPCB air emission norms,” he added.
Over 200 NCC students and 60 students of Sri Chaitanya, Kommadi campus, participated in the plantation drive under the supervision of Lt. V. Swami Naidu, NCC had, V.S. Krishna College and Subedar Govardhan of NCC, 13th Battalion.
