The Kochi Corporation launched a ‘clean trees' campaign here on Sunday. The officials of the Corporation and the Forest Department jointly removed billboards, nails and festoons from the trees located at the Madhava Pharmacy junction.
All advertisement materials displayed on trees in the area were removed on Sunday, said E.M. Sunilkumar, chairman of the town planning standing committee of the Corporation. Representatives of various residents' associations also joined the drive.
The campaign, which is organised as part of the environment protection measures of the Kochi Corporation, will continue in the coming days. All the trees located in the city will be freed of unnecessary publicity materials, he said.
The civic body had launched a green campaign in the city last month as part of the world Environment Day celebrations.
Tree census
The civic authorities plan to involve around 1,500 students of various city schools and colleges for completing the tree census that was inaugurated last week.
Students deployed
Under the programme, students will be deployed in all the 71 divisions on a day for undertaking the survey. The students, supported by experts, will collect details of trees located in the city.
The Rajagiri School of Social Sciences is undertaking the survey for the Corporation. The training programme for students to carry out the survey has also started in the city, he said.
The civic authorities claimed that they had successfully planted 15,000 saplings in the city since the launch of the Environment Day campaign.
Target of 50,000
The authorities have set a target of planting 50,000 saplings in the city during the campaign period. The target could not be achieved following the shortage of Neem saplings.
Tenders floated
The Karnataka Forest Department is understood to have the saplings in their nurseries. The Corporation has floated tenders for procuring 25,000 saplings, he said.
The growth of the saplings planted as part of the campaign was also monitored regularly.
Neem saplings will be distributed to the households in the city and the target would be achieved shortly.
The civic authorities are planning to convene a meeting in mid July at West Kochi to mark the culmination of the green campaign.
Banyan tree
A meeting of the civic administrators held at Fort Kochi has planned to honour an old banyan tree at Fort Kochi for its environmental contributions over the decades. The authorities hope to bring together leaders from the socio-cultural sectors for the ceremony.
