The Kerala Nadi Samrakshana Samithi in association with Pulpally, Mullankolly grama panchayats and Dotta Bhairavan Kuppa grama panchayat in Karnataka will organise a workshop on river protection, at 10 a.m. on Friday at the Service Co-operative Bank auditorium at Pulpally in the district to mark World Earth Day.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Monday, A.T. Rajan, State secretary of the Samiti, said that though climate change and environmental degradation in the hill district had sounded the death knell for waterbodies, the public and governmental machinery were yet to respond positively.
Many villages in Pulpally and Mullankolly grama panchayats were undergoing a process of desertification, especially after the massive destruction of bamboo groves after the gregarious blooming of the plant in the forest areas of the Kerala-Karnataka State border recently, Mr. Rajan said.
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“The samiti is preparing to launch awareness programmes and to plant various species of plants, including bamboo, on the banks of rivers and lakes to rejuvenate perennial water sources,” Mr. Rajan said adding that the workshop was the first initiative in the series and it would discuss measures to rejuvenate the Kabani river, a major tributary of the Cauvery.
The organisation, with the support of district administration, Kudumbasree units, local bodies, environmental organisations, and forest departments in Kerala and Karnataka would launch a tree-planting drive on the banks of the Kabani and its tributaries on June 5, World Environment Day.
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Green belt
The project is aimed at constructing a green belt on the Kerala-Karnataka border to combat desertification. As many as 10 lakh saplings of bamboo and various species of plants would be planted on the day and it would be protected with the support of Kudumbasree members in those areas.