Deccan Herald (DH) and Prajavani (PV) celebrated World Environment Day by planting saplings and distributing them to citizens at Kadri Park here on Tuesday.
Inaugurating the formal programme, Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath lauded the efforts of DH and PV and said that planting more and more saplings is the need of the hour as lot of development work is taking place in Mangaluru city. Taking a cue from the programme, people should take an initiative to plant useful saplings at their homes, he said.
Mayor Bhaskar K said that all people should celebrate World Environment Day as a joyous occasion. A city like Mangaluru which is going to become a smart city, needs to be smart from the perspective of greenery too. He said Deccan Herald and Prajavani have set an example by taking the initiative to distribute saplings.
Saving Nature
Corporator Roopa D Bangera said that our ancestors worshipped Nature and in turn, Nature was kind to them too. “But, today, there is a lot of unpredictable climate change due to the result of excessive human activities and deforestation. We are creating concrete jungles in the pretext of development and tend to forget that Nature protects us if we protect Nature,” she said.
The corporator added, “In cities, the situation is such that we have to search for shade. Along with planting saplings, we have to focus on reducing the usage of non-renewable fuel and plastic, to protect the environment. The spirit of the Environment Day should not be confined to a particular day.”
Leader of the Opposition in the City Corporation Premanand Shetty, Range Forest Officer P Sridhar, Dakshina Kannada ZP Deputy Secretary Ravi Basarihalli, Horticulture Department district Deputy Director H R Naik were present on the occasion.
500 saplings distributed
Around 500 saplings of different varieties were distributed for free, to mark World Environment Day.
There were saplings of fruit and flower-bearing trees, such as gooseberry, Java plum (jambul), ‘Bilva’ (golden apple), almond, champa, and ‘Mandara Pushpa’.
The Forest Department provided the saplings.