Drive begins for a green cover

Saplings being planted in 30 villages around Sterlite Industries

Collector M. Ravikumar planting a sapling on Agriculture office campus in Thoothukudi on Wednesday.— Photo: N. Rajesh

The drive to provide green cover to Thoothukudi by planting saplings in 30 villages around Sterlite Industries began on Wednesday.

Collector M. Ravikumar inaugurated the exercise by planting saplings on the Collectorate premises.

The drive has been taken up under the Rs.100-crore compensation paid by Sterlite Copper Smelter Plant following the Supreme Court’s direction in 2013.

Initially, 2,000 saplings would be planted in 2016-17 in the villages, including Milavittan, Madathur, Pudurpandiyapuram and Ayyanadaippu.

In the coming years, such drive would be taken up in all the 30 villages in order to mitigate the pollution caused by the industry.

Assistant Collector (Training) Rajagopal Sankara, District Forest Officer S.A. Raju, Forest Rangers Nellainayagam and Vimalkumar, and Executive Engineer (Agricultural Engineering) Kalaiselvam were among those who took part in the event.