Residents of Nandigudda and the officials from the Forest Department came together on Sunday for planting about 400 saplings at two cemeteries.
Clifford Lobo, Range Forest Officer, Mangalore, said that the plan was to plant 1,000 saplings in the cemeteries by Tuesday.
Saplings of Bohemia, Cascia, Tacoma, Peltophorum and local trees such as teak, mango and jackfruit were being planted there, he said.
The department had plans to plant 20,000 saplings in the jurisdiction of Mangalore City Corporation by August with help from local people, said Vijay Kumar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Dakshina Kannada. Half of this number would be planted by the department and the rest would be given to people freely if they are willing to take part in this drive, he added.
“We will ask people to fill in specified application forms before taking away saplings with them, so that we can later conduct a survey and monitor the growth of the saplings,'' he said.
This initiative is part of a larger drive to make Mangalore a green city with the help of Mangalore City Corporation.
