RAMANATHAPURAM: In order to increase the district's green cover and bioshield in coastal regions, the forest department has planted more than 2.5 lakh trees under the Green Tamil Nadu Mission in the past two weeks.
According to the National Forest Policy of India, the ideal amount of forest cover should be at least 33% for ecological stability. However, owing to issues, the percentage of green cover in Ramanathapuram is at 6.25%. As a result, several measures including planting lakhs of trees are being undertaken. The district has a total of 3,150 hectares of shelter belt in coastal areas, out of which more than 450 hectares of area consists of casuarina tree and the rest are native trees.
Hemalata, district forest officer, said, "We are dibbling 50,000 palmyra nuts inside the forests in the district. Apart from this, we have 5,500 palmyra saplings in the nursery. It will be planted once they attain the desirable height to increase the success rate of the plantation. We are also planting around two lakh casuarina in coastal areas. The purpose is to create a dense forest so that it will serve as a bio shield protecting life and property from disasters."
She added that the forest department plans to plant more than 5.5 lakh tree saplings for the year 2023-24. "The department will be planting around 20,000 palmyra trees (50% seedlings and 50% saplings) so as to increase groundwater," Hemalata further said.