BHUBANESWAR: In a unique initiative aimed at encouraging youngsters to participate in ecological restoration, students in the state capital will help the Forest department regenerate the city’s green cover through seed balls. The initiative is part of the Global Seed Ball campaign launched under the guidance of spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), the chair of the country’s Civil 20 (C20), an official engagement group of G20.
City DFO Ajit Kumar Satpathy said a total of five lakh seed balls will be prepared by Ayudh, the international youth wing of Mata Amritanandamayi Math, involving students from Sahodaya group of schools, Bhubaneswar chapter in the next three months. The seed balls will be sprinkled in forests and open spaces during monsoon to regenerate Bhubaneswar’s green canopy and improve the urban forest cover in and around the city.
Forest department officials will guide the students in preparing the seed balls, while both Ayudh and Amrita Vidyalayam, Bhubaneswar will coordinate the project. Students from around 80 CBSE schools will participate in the initiative. The DFO said on Thursday, around 250 students from six schools made 12, 000 seed balls in just one hour.