This Article is From Jul 16, 2017

A Year After Cyclone Vardah, Chennai Students To Restore Green Cover

The first stop for seed bombing, part of their activities in the run up to the World Conservation Day on July 28, was the Selaiyur Forest in south Chennai.

As many as 150 students made more than 10,000 seed bombs to bombard the city.

Chennai: Ahead of monsoon in Tamil Nadu, efforts are being made to make up for the one lakh trees that were destroyed when cyclone Vardah hit the state last year.

The campus of Vidhya Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chennai looks like an arsenal with thousands of green bombs left to dry outside. As many as 150 students made more than 10,000 seed bombs on Saturday to bombard the city.

"We have chosen Neem and Ponga seeds as these trees grow strong and can withstand cyclones," said Sukumari Madhavan, a Class XI student.

The school believes that at least 75 per cent of these seeds would germinate and survive. "This is the most successful method so far," said VM Hariharan of Class XII.

Another student is very hopeful that "Chennai will become slightly greener after this."

Their first stop for seed bombing, part of their activities in the run up to the World Conservation Day on July 28, was the Selaiyur Forest in south Chennai which has still not fully recovered from the devastation that cyclone Vardah caused.

"This would help our students to take ownership of trees and they would never remove or cut trees," said Teena, an English faculty member.

Chennai lost more than a lakh trees, a fourth of its tree population when cyclone Vardah hit the city last year.

These children are hoping their attempt will trigger similar afforestation drive in other schools in the city.
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