The district administration’s initiative to plant one lakh saplings in a day on the occasion of World Environment Day received a good response on Sunday. By the end of the day, about 1.16 lakh saplings were planted in the district.
District Collector A Mallikarjuna said while the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has planted around 17,500 saplings in GVMC parks, schools and roads, the housing department has planted 11,390 saplings on the layout. Similarly, the officials of the Education Department have planted around 11,200 saplings in many educational institutions, while the officials of the Panchayat Raj Department have planted 20 thousand saplings across the district. He said that Visakhapatnam Port Trust, IOCL, HPCL, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and some other industries have planted around 36,000 saplings.
The collector said that he would plant about 10 lakh saplings in the district from June 5 to July 31.
Shri Mallikarjuna started the plantation program at MGM Park along with A Vijaya Nirmala, Chairperson, Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA).
Speaking on the occasion, he said that the administration is taking several steps to protect the environment and also urged people to stop using plastic carry bags. He said that flexis will also be printed on clothes soon to avoid the use of plastic. He said that all the public representatives and flexi manufacturers have also agreed on this.
Ms. Vijaya Nirmala announced that they are completely banning the use of plastic in VMRDA offices and places. He said that cloth bags and other eco-friendly products are being encouraged.
Shri Mallikarjuna, GVMC Commissioner G. Laxmisha, Mayor G. Hari Venkata Kumari along with other officials of the civic body and other government departments participated in the beach cleaning activity at Sagar Nagar beach on Sunday. This is the second beach cleaning drive organized by the district administration under the ‘Swachhta’ campaign. The officials have collected about 22 tonnes of garbage.