Ramnathapuram: This Indian Navy’s operation was special as it was aimed to improve the green cover of the area. Under the operation, lakhs of seed balls were sown in various locations in Rameswaram using INS helicopters on September 9.
Rear Admiral Ravikumar Dhingra, Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu and Puducherry flagged off the helicopters taking off with seedballs at INS Parundu at Uchipuli.
As many as five lakh seedballs of native trees are going to be spread aerially in 3,700 hectares of degraded forest areas of Ramanathapuram district in the coming months.
Amid the growing concerns over Ramanathapuram’s depleting green cover, the forest department, along with INS Parundu, 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 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.
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