City’s youngsters strive to increase green cover

With an aim to get students, techies and other working professionals involved in caring for the nature, Chennai Trekking Club’s green wing, Ainthinai, is hosting sapling maintenance drives all around the city.

Instead of spending their weekends at home, these youngsters aren’t shying away from getting their hands dirty and spending their day in hot sun, caring for plants. While many tree plantation drives simply involve planting saplings and do not pay attention to their upkeep, these maintenance meetups ensure that the planted saplings are nurtured well for their healthy growth.

“We must learn to give back to the nature. The ultimate goal of the maintenance drives is not only confined to taking care of the plants and cleaning up, but also to raise awareness on the continuous rise in garbage we are generating and its effect on the environment. We want to make everyone, including students and working professionals, aware of what they can contribute towards conserving the environment. Since many individuals across the world are keen to lead to healthier lifestyles, we need to save our plants to be able to live on this planet peacefully,” says Sivakumar Shanmugavelu, a founding member of Ainthinai.

The initiative is bringing doctors, engineers, corporate professionals and students on one platform and getting them to work together. Twenty-six-year-old Dinesh Dhanpal, a city-based software engineer, says the initiative has been allowing many youngsters to change their perspectives towards environment. “Even as a kid I was always keen on contributing to a greener world. But, now I know that just by caring for existing plants, and through each drop of water we are giving to them, we are making an impact for ourselves and our future as well,” he says.

Another volunteer, Satish Shan, a tech professional, says he has been engaging in sapling plantation and caring for them for at least a decade now.

“When I began planting saplings along with my father, I realised that many plants were left uncared for. That was when I understood the importance of nurturing the saplings. Engaging myself in maintaining saplings in the city gives me a sense of contentment,” Satish, 26, shares.