Tehri, Handpicked villages of Tehri Garhwal will witness a mega tree plantation drive on 16th February 2020. ‘Earth Day Network’ and ‘One Tree Planted’ will help plant 30,100 saplings of apricot, walnut, plum, pear, papaya, and lemon, fruit trees in Manjgaon, Kalavan, Uniyalgaon, Haveli, Jaadgaon, Navagaon, Semvalgaon, Maroda, Lamkandai and Hatwalgaon, which fall within Saklan region.
The inaugural ceremony will be held at State Higher Secondary School, Manjgaon. The villagers will plant these saplings in their farmland and homesteads, which will then be nurtured and monitored by social enterprise Sustainable Green Initiative.
“It may sound clichéd, but indeed, where there is a will, there is a way. In the land of the “tree man” Vishweshwar Dutt Saklani, the people treat tree saplings like their own children,” says Raj Mohan, Director, Sustainable Green Initiative (SGI).
According to SGI’s estimate, each fruit tree gives a quintal or more fruits from the fourth year onwards. Even at marginal market prices of Rs 10 per kg, each tree will provide nutritional value or an additional income of Rs 1,000 to the farmer who has planted these fruit trees.
“We planted 15,000 trees in this area last year on Basant Panchami, and encouraged by the excellent survival rate and with the way the people here are taking care of the saplings, here we are, working on greening the world, one fruit tree at a time,” said Karuna Singh, Regional Director for South Asia and Country Director, Earth Day Network.
Nine-year-old young environmentalist, Ms Licypriya Kangujam who has been campaigning for action to tackle climate change in the country, will also grace the event along with His Excellency Mr Klaus Molin, Swedish Ambassador who will also plant a sapling within the school premises.
