A fruitful mission takes steps on the museum premises

Governor launches drive to plant indigenous fruit trees

June 24, 2014 01:31 pm | Updated 01:31 pm IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Governor Sheila Dikshit planting a gooseberry sapling on the museum premises in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday as part of a programme organised by ‘WePlant India.' Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Governor Sheila Dikshit planting a gooseberry sapling on the museum premises in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday as part of a programme organised by ‘WePlant India.' Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Thiruvananthapuram took a ‘green’ step forward on Monday when Governor Sheila Dikshit planted a gooseberry sapling on the museum premises to mark the beginning of a greening drive led by Delhi-based NGO ‘WePlant India’.

Ms. Dikshit administered an oath committing the youngsters present on the occasion to preserve and protect biodiversity by planting ‘indigenous and location-specific fruit trees in public places wherever possible’.  

Schools extend support Around 150 fruit tree saplings were planted at the event, including those of mango, pomegranate, litchi and Indian gooseberry by the volunteers and 150 students of various schools in the city — National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), Akkulam,  Holy Angels’ School, Vanchiyoor,  St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom,  LMS UPS Cantonment School, Viswaprakash Central School, St. Theresa’s School, St. Thomas Residential School and Women’s Christian College, Nagercoil.

Children born with clubfoot who have undergone Ponseti treatment under CURE Clubfoot Kerala were also part of the people who planted fruit tree saplings.

Kerala State Biodiversity Board chairman Oommen V. Oommen; Museum Director B. Joseph; founder of ‘WePlant India’ J. George, national team leader Santhosh George G., State team leader S. Devanesan; and Secretary, Agriculture, Jyothilal, were present.

Zulfiquar Marikar, CEO, Marikkar Motors, said on the occasion that for every vehicle sold by the showroom a fruit tree would be planted in partnership with We Plant India.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.