6,000 sow seeds in 43 villages to raise 30 lakh tree saplings

THANJAVUR: To create a Guinness World Record of sorts, about 6,000 people sowed seeds in 43 villages in 14 panchayat unions of the district across about 23 hectares of land from 9 am to 5 pm on Friday to create nurseries for 30 lakh tree saplings. Inaugurating the sowing of seeds in a nursery at Kollangarai village in Thanjavur union on Friday, Collector Dr N. Subbaiyan said that this was one of many steps that the state government was taking to improve soil health, the environment and to improve the forest cover.

They were planting all types of trees, the target of 30 lakh saplings being aligned with Thanjavur population of 25 lakhs, he said. He said the tree planting needed to be taken up as a movement and efforts would be made to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for sowing 30 lakh seeds and creating nurseries for tree planting. In Kollangarai village, one lakh saplings are being readied in a nursery set up in government land in an area measuring 2,000 square metre.