18,750 saplings planted in the Nilgiris

Nilgiris district collector, Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru, inaugurated the planting of over 18,000 saplings as part of the “Green Tamil Nadu Mission” on Saturday.

In a press release, the Nilgiris district administration said that the collector inaugurated the planting at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) quarters in Masinagudi. The district administration said that the Green Tamil Nadu Mission, started in 2021-2022, envisages increasing forest cover in Tamil Nadu from the current 23.8 percent to 33 percent of the state’s total land cover by 2030. By 2031, the target was to increase forest cover in government lands, as well as on premises being administered by government departments, officials stated.

An appeal was made to local residents to plant trees in their homes for health reasons and also to mitigate the effects of climate change. The district administration said that the forest department was growing trees in its nurseries. Officials also appealed to residents to grow native plants and trees and to not grow invasive species, especially in ecologically sensitive areas like the Nilgiris.

The press release went onto add that 200 trees each were being planted in the taluks of Udhagamandalam, Coonoor, Kundha, Kotagiri, Gudalur and Pandalur. Moreover, different departments, including the agricultural engineering department, department of horticulture and plantation crops, highways departments and local bodies, among others, were carrying out tree planting across the district. A total of 18,750 trees are to be planted as part of the initiative, it was said.

Published - October 06, 2024 06:05 pm IST