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 Trees are earth's endless effort to speak to the
listening heavens, said India's first and only literary Nobel laureate, Rabindranath
Tagore. If true, the Tamil Nadu government has taken efforts that will not only enhance
this effort, but also set up a 'dedicated' channel of communication. On June 1, 2000, the
State government will kick off a unique project that aims at planting 7,77,777 saplings,
with the majority of them targeted at urban centres. With massive deforestation and rapid
urban growth adding to the huge depletion of earth's precious resources like the ozone
layer, a well planned and executed afforestation campaign will go a long, long way in
reducing pollution levels in urban centres. Not to mention enhancing the quality of life
in a number of other ways!
"A massive project - 'City Green Cover,'
is being planned for the Corporation areas of Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Trichy, Nellai and
Kovai," Union Minister for Environment and Forest T. R. Balu told Chennai Online.
Chennai would be allocated a budget of about Rs.1.5 crore while the remaining centres
would share Rs.3 crore, he added. To make the programme successful, it is being planned to
involve all those who matter in the society like Collectors, chiefs of public and private
sector undertakings, heads of educational and religious institutions, presidents of
Chambers of Commerce and other Associations, etc.
 "This is a scheme, which supports and works
for national integration," pointed out the Minister as it unites all the people
irrespective of caste, creed, religion, etc., with a single determination of planting
trees on a particular day. Nursery preparations are already on, in order to make available
the required saplings on the notified day, said the Minister. "We are planning to
make this exercise a public movement," the Minister continued. The Forestry
Department of Tamil Nadu is coordinating the entire project and a high level meeting of
Secretaries of various government departments would be held in March 2000. The project
would be extended to other states as well later.
Asked as to how the scheme would succeed,
given the experiences of roadside saplings dying due to lack of proper care, the minister
explained: Heads of religious institutions like the Sankarachariar will distribute
saplings to devotees, with a specific request to care for the saplings. Similarly,
corporate chairmen will direct their employees and the senior government officials their
subordinates. "This we feel will make way for high levels of motivation," he
said. The project will also allow the display of names and other details like dates of
planting, from whom the sapling was received, etc., also as a way to assure proper care
for the saplings.
As we are aware of the importance of
sentiments in our society, there is a bright chance of the scheme succeeding. If planners
start devising schemes similar to the one envisaged by T.R. Balu (that of intertwining
sentiments/traditions with necessities), the day is not far off, when our motherland will
really usher in a new kind of environment.
K. Sridhar
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