Students on green drive,plant saplings on hills

They were joined by around 50 children from the school and also 50 girls and boys from various colleges,and together they planted close to 300 saplings on the ARAI and Chatuhrshrungi hills. “Following construction activities near these hills,lots of trees are being cut down. These hills used to be the ideal place for morning walkers and joggers,but now there is hardly any greenery left. So no one really goes to these places. Since the monsoons are round the corner,we want to make sure that we do our bit to contribute to the cause of nature.”

Officials from the Forest Department also joined these young nature lovers and they helped them plant the saplings. “The forest department provided us with free saplings of plants like bamboo and tamarind; and helped us plant them. Next week,we plan to go out,talk to more people and include them in our group,so that more and more people can contribute. We plan to plant trees on the tekdis on the Law College Road next week,” Kekane said.

Even the schoolchildren who took part in the drive felt overwhelmed by the whole experience. “Almost 50 students from my school participated in today’s event and each one of us planted almost five saplings each. We are excited and it will be great to watch these plants grow. We plan to come here every week to water the saplings we have planted,” said Neelam,one of them.