The Vanashri programme iniatiated by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to plant 25,000 saplings in the city during the year and shore up the green cover was launched here on Wednesday.
Supported by Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, it was inaugurated by Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade by planting a sapling on the KSOU campus.
Speaking at the function organised to mark the occasion Mr. Veerendra Heggade urged the authorities and the citizens to ensure that Mysuru emerges as the green capital of Karnataka.
‘’Mysuru is known to be clean city and going forward, it should also emerge as the green capital of Karnataka’’, he said.
Emphasising the imperatives of planting more saplings and increase the green cover, Mr.Heggade said conservation was essential to bequeath a healthier planet for posterity.‘’The fruits of planting the saplings will not occur to us but the future generations will benefit just as the present generation is reaping the benefits of saplings planted by our forefathers and hence is the responsibility of every individual’’, he added.
Though India is ancient and had pristine forests the giant trees have disappeared and nature has been vandalised compared to a few other countries where the forest density and tree height is such that even sunlight does not penetrate to the ground, said Mr. Heggade. Hence it is not only important to take up planting of saplings and nurture them but also ensure that there was no further erosion of forest cover.
Mr. Heggade touched upon the issue of human-animal conflict and the devious methods deployed to kill or maim the animals and said it was not that the animals were straying into human landscape. It was the intrusion of humans into forests that has led to the situation. Hence he suggested greater afforestation measures including planting species that provide fodder to animals.
Suttur seer Shivaratri Deshikendra Swami echoed similar views and said that afforestation and protecting the forests also results in protecting wildlife. He said there was a popular belief in rural areas that growing a tree adds to one’s merit or ‘’punya’’ in life which underlines the importance of trees and forests and hence the programme to plant 25,000 saplings was a welcome initiative.
H.V.Rajeev, Chairman, MUDA, said this was part of the ongoing Green Mysuru campaign launched with the objective of planting 1 lakh saplings in four years and under which 50,000 saplings had already been planted in two years.
The focus is on high density plantation in open areas to create urban forest ecosystem and the volunteers of Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project have come forward to ensure the watering of the saplings during summer for three years to ensure their survival. The MUDA is planting indigenous species such as Atti, Hippe, Honge, Halasu, Nagalingapushpa, Bettada Nelli, Kadubadami, Bevu and Mahogany.
District in-charge Minister S.T.Somashekar, MLA G.T.Deve Gowda, Mysuru MP Pratap Simha, Deputy Commissioner Bagadi Gautham, and senior Forest Department officials were among those present.
