RAMANATHAPURAM: Amid the growing concerns over Ramanathapuram’s depleting green cover, the forest department, along with INS Parundu, has planned to carry out a special operation to shower seed balls from a helicopter over the tropical dry evergreen forest areas in Rameswaram.
The operation is intended to improve the green cover of the district and create awareness among people about the importance of protecting the environment. The preparation and trial run process was conducted on Wednesday.
The National Forest Policy of India points out that the ideal amount of forest cover should be at least 33% to maintain ecological stability. Yet, owing to issues, the percentage of green cover in Ramanathapuram has been 6.25%. Thus several measures, including planting lakhs of trees through the Green Tamil Nadu Mission scheme, are being taken towards improving the green cover of the district.
Forest officials stated that the forest department has prepared more than 10 lakh seed balls for the special operation across the district. “Seeds have been collected from native trees (more than 20 varieties) that are widely seen in the district, especially in Rameswaram, so that the success rate would be high. In the first phase, the seed balls will be sown in possible locations in Rameswaram using an INS helicopter on September 9. The trial run will be carried out from September 6 to September 8,” the officials added.