Kerala - Kochi   

Pledge to protect mother nature

Staff Reporter

Rallies, green drives mark World Environment Day Rallies, green drives mark World Environment Day

PRO-ACTIVE MEASURE: Minister for Fisheries S. Sarma handing over a sapling to a student at Government Girls High School, Ernakulam, on Tuesday as part of the `Ente Maram' programme. - Photo: VipinChandran

KOCHI: Rallies, seminars and planting of saplings marked the World Environment Day programmes in Ernakulam district on Tuesday.

Kochi Corporation authorities launched a green drive in the city, with Mayor Mercy Williams inaugurating the programme.

About 10,000 saplings will be planted in areas under the local body, as part of the project. Local tree varieties like njaval, elanji, kanikonna, vaaka, kattadi and bamboo will be planted. A green belt will come up at the proposed site for a solid waste treatment plant of the Corporation at Brahmapuram.

From Wednesday, the civic body will plant at least 10 saplings in each division. The project will be implemented with the support of residents associations and neighbourhood committees. Various NGOs and organisations of traders have come forward to support the green projects of the Corporation and many of them have offered to sponsor trees.

`My Tree' programme

Only a joint effort can save nature and the environment from being destroyed by commercial interests, Fisheries Minister S. Sarma said.

He was speaking after the district-level inauguration of the Ente Maram (My Tree) programme at Government Girls High School, Ernakulam, on Tuesday.

The programme is a joint endeavour of the Education and Forest departments, to increase green cover in the State.

The project aims at involving the student community in environment protection programmes being initiated by the Government.

Earlier, he planted a tree at the house of Sreeranjini, a ninth standard student of the school. Over two lakh saplings are ready for distribution in 542 schools in the district.

A diary with the poems of O.N.V. Kurup, Sugathakumari and Vyloppilly Sreedhara Menon and tips for environmental conservation was given to the participants.

Mr. Sarma said that children must tend to the trees daily. "Very often, development is at loggerheads with the environment. The emphasis must be on sustainable development and the Government is making all efforts for this."

Award presented

The Association for Environment Protection at Aluva presented the Bhoomimitra award posthumously to Mayilamma, who spearheaded the Plachimada campaign against cola companies.

Hundreds participated in a green rally at Aluva in the morning. A seminar on the impact of global warming was held at the FBOA hall near Aluva. Papers on the use of water hyacinths and the threat of pollution in the Periyar were presented on the occasion.

The District Legal Services Authority and St. Albert's College organised a programme at the Albertian Institute of Management. P.K. Ibrahim, the former Chairman of the Local Area Environment Committee, delivered the keynote address on the occasion.

C.M. Joy, faculty of the Department of Botany at Sacred Heart College, Thevara, delivered a lecture on the theme `melting ice - a hot topic' at a programme organised by the Cochin Local centre of Institution of Engineers.

The Swadeshi Science Movement organised a cycle rally to mark the day. The rally was flagged off from Vyttila by S.K. Malhotra, Head, Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy, Mumbai. Environmentalist P.K. Gopalakrishnan led the rally.

In the evening, a meeting was organised at the National Institute of Oceanography. Mr. Malhotra spoke on global warming.

Earlier, a puppet show was held to highlight environmental issues.

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