Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Katra (SMVDSB) launched a campaign to disperse seeds aerially in regions that are difficult to reach in the hills.
The Chief Executive Officer of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Anshul Garg, said that in the last 10 years, around 17 lakh plants have been planted manually and an 80 per cent survival rate has been observed.
“In the last 10 years, the board has been doing a lot of activities related to tree plantations on the Trikuta hills. There is a high-tech nursery where 1.5 lakh plants are cultivated every year and transplanted to the Trikuta hills. In the last 10 years, around 17 lakh plants have been planted manually and an 80 per cent survival rate has been observed,” he said.
Garg further said that LG Manoj Sinha has directed the dispersal of the seeds through drones to areas that are inaccessible.
“LG Manoj Sinha had directed that seed dispersal should be done with the help of drones in areas that are inaccessible to our teams. This will give us relief from soil erosion and landslides,” he said.
Earlier, the SMVDSB introduced the new eco-friendly initiative of distributing plants as souvenirs to devotees.
As part of this green initiative, Anshul Garg, inaugurated a sapling outlet named ‘Vaishnavi Vatika’ at the Niharika Complex of the Shrine Board at Katra on World Environment Day.
Anshul Garg, Chief Executive Officer, SMVDSB, told ANI, “For environmental protection, a very big nursery is being run by Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Panthal and in the last 8-10 years, 17-18 lakh plants have been planted. In order to take this initiative to the tourists, we have started a small initiative in the name of ‘Vaishnavi Vatika’ in Niharika Complex of Shrine Board at Katra so that the plants of our nursery can be made available to the tourists and can be delivered to them at a very nominal charge.”
“About 40 varieties of flowering species will be available and we are trying to expand this initiative to Jammu and other places in the coming times,” Garg added.
On the same day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign, urging people to plant a sapling as a tribute to their mothers and encouraging participants to share pictures of themselves planting the sapling using the hashtag #Plant4Mother.
He also planted a peepal tree sapling at Buddha Jayanti Park in the national capital, accompanied by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
World Environment Day, celebrated annually on June 5, was established at the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
To promote environmental sustainability, the SMVDSB introduced the eco-friendly practice of distributing plants as souvenirs to devotees on Wednesday, World Environment Day.