Seed ball dispersal on Girivalam path

CHENNAI: Known for his unique and humane ways of handling even critical issues of administration and public grievances, Tiruvannamalai district collector K. S. Kandasamy on Saturday took a large bunch of school students, 'armed' with seed balls, on a trip to the Girivalam route. He joined the students in a joyous hurling of the seed balls up the hill and down the valley, confident that the coming rains will take care of their germination and soon the forest cover at Girivalam route would get thicker.

The initiative launched under the Centre's Jal Shakti Abhiyan - a campaign for water conservation and water security -  will see the dispersal of one lakh seed balls on the hills. District Forest Officer Kruba Shankar and school education officers besides members from NGOs participated in the campaign. Later, the collector reviewed the pace of implementing the Jal Shakti Abhiyan in the district.

The Jal Shakti Abhiyan was announced recently by the Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The campaign will run through citizen participation during the monsoon season, from July 1, 2019 to September 15, 2019. An additional Phase 2 will be run from October 1, to November 30, 2019 for States receiving the North East retreating monsoons. The focus of the campaign will be on water stressed districts and blocks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat address had given a clarion call to citizens to join hands for water conservation and create a jan-andolan along the lines of the Swachh Bharat Mission, to save water and secure the future.

Recently, Mr Kandasamy had launched a massive rally organised by the Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women, to create awareness on water conservation.

The rallyists carried out the messages on the concepts of Jal Shakti Abhiyan.