RAMANATHAPURAM: The district has made its way into the record books on Friday, thanks to the efforts of the district administration that planted as much as 17,71,840 seeds in 993 locations, spread over 429 village panchayats, in just 12 hours.
Sources said more than 1,45,245 women attached to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act programme collected 17,71,840 seeds, weighing 3,26,335 kilogrammes for the drive.
Additional Collector (Development) and Project Director of District Rural Development Authority KJ Praveenkumar said the main aim of the campaign aims at spreading awareness among the public on the importance of palmyra trees.
He said the initiative of the district administration has been validated by Elite World Records LLC United States, Asian Records Academy (UAE), India Records Academy and Tamilan Book of Records that is certified as a world record in the category 'Most Palmyra Palm Seeds Planted at Multiple Locations in 12 Hours'.
Senior Adjudicator, Elite World Records Ameet K. Hingorani, Senior Adjudicator, Asian Records Academy Dr.B Siva Kumaran, Adjudicator, Asian Records Academy Dr. M Santha Ram, Associate Editor, India Records Academy P. Jeganathan, Records Manager, India Records Academy K.S. KarthikKanagaraju and Senior Records Manager, Tamilan Book of Records Dr B. Bala Subramaniyan were present on the occasion and certified the initiative as a world record.
A provisional world record certificate was handed over to Collector JU Chandrakala and Additional Collector (Development).