2,000 saplings planted to honour Kalam

The event was organised by TIST Tree Planting India in association with Wipro Care Trust.

Volunteers of Wipro Care Trust plant saplings at Perumbakkam. Photo D. Gopalakrishnan

Over 2,000 saplings were planted in Perumbakkam village on Sunday as a mark of respect to former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

The event, organised by TIST Tree Planting India in association with Wipro Care Trust, a corporate social activity arm of Wipro Limited, Bengaluru, marked the launch of the program to plant 25,000 saplings sponsored by WCT for the current year.

Creating biodiversity

Speaking to

The Hindu , B. Praveen, programme manager, said Wipro sponsors 25,000 saplings every year and plants them in five northern districts of Tamil Nadu through local groups formed by TIST-TPI.

The main objective of TIST India’s programme is to create islands of biodiversity in an already fragmented landscape to help farmers said A. Joseph Rexon, director, TIST-TPI. He said around 1.8 million saplings were planted in Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram districts since 2003.

Over 5,500 farmers have been enrolled as members of this programm that is sponsored by Corporates including Wipro. Mr. Rexon said participants were also entitled to avail greenhouse gas (GhG) credits after 20 years.

This would be paid based on the World market price of GhG credits, as on December 1 of the year for which payment was made, he added.