Green Chamundi Abhiyana launched

‘This is the first ever attempt to green Chamundi Hills through the concept of seed ball culture’

Karnataka :Bengaluru : 22/05/2017 : Volunteers prearing seedballs for greening Chamundi Hill in Mysuru on Sunday.

Chamundi Hills may sport a green canopy and the forests may regenerate again if the Clean Mysuru Foundation’s initiative reaches its logical end.

The foundation launched the “Green Chamundi Abhiyana’’ on Sunday with an aim of greening the barren hills which currently supports scrub vegetation.

The former MCC Commissioner, C.G. Betsurmath, who is the president of the foundation, told

The Hindu that this is the first ever attempt to green Chamundi Hills involving the masses through the concept of seed ball culture.

More than 75,000 seed balls were prepared by the participants by Sunday noon and they will be dried for two days before they are introduced in the hills, Mr. Betsurmath said, adding that the target is to prepare at least 5 lakh seed balls.

More than 20 organisations have joined hands in this endeavour and this includes Infosys, Rajeev Sneha Balaga, Sadhana, Green Dot, Koti Vruksha, NIE-Crest, Dharmasthala Gramabivrudhi, Samarpana, and Young India, among others. The Green Chamundi Abhiyana was organised at Sri Shivananda Ashrama near the Chamundi footsteps.

Meanwhile, S. Madhukesh, Secretary, Clean Mysuru Foundation, said the initiative is expected to bear fruit in five years and the strategy is to plant medicinal plants and shrubs, fruit-bearing, and environmentally sustainable seed varieties though seed ball culturing.

“While seed ball culturing has 50% success rate, Clean Mysuru Foundation, is associating with local organisations and trekking teams, aims to achieve 80% success rates by inserting in four inches pits dug by manual process or using the already natural pits and covering the balls with soil after placing them,” Mr. Madhukesh said.