Help me survive — To man, from the trees

Tribune News Service

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Ludhiana, July 31

A plantation drive ‘Help Me Survive’ was organised at the Panjab University Regional Centre (PURC), Ludhiana, in association with Ludhiana Cares Ladies Society (LCLS) and The Yellow Brigade.

About 45 trees of various species including neem, red gulmohar, harshingar, amaltaas, kachnaar, sheesham, lemon, kaner, pilkan, guava, were planted on the campus. Believing to plant a new hope with a new tree, all students along with the teaching and non-teaching staff and the members of extension library enthusiastically gathered in the garden of the department around 8:30 a.m. All participants wore yellow shirts. During the event, they pledged not only to plant saplings, but also to nurture every single tree planted.

It was director, PURC, Prof Ravi Inder Singh’s idea, which was coordinated by faculty member Meera Nagpal, assistant professor, who was assisted by student volunteer committee which comprised Simar Kukreja, Shubham Negi, Abhinash Pratap, Sarbjeet Kaur, Aarushi, Arshnoor, Kashish, Riya, Baldeep and Anadi Kant. The coordinator enlightened students about their crucial role in saving the environment. It was followed by Assistant Prof Rajnish Saryal’s keynote address, wherein he emphasised that the current research was looking at various South Asian religious texts to find references for the ecological ethics that can work as motivation for planting trees.

He cited examples from Matsya Purana, Varaha Purana and Vishnu Dharmottara to explain his point. The event witnessed guests including artist Gagan Behl, owner of a music academy; Saima Saleema, a clinical psychologist; artist Ayushi Gupta; and Rupashi Wadhawan, who is known to have introduced aqua yoga in the city.

Kitty Bakshi, Harpreet Soin, Apinder Sodhi, Amrita Vig and Alcka Gupta from LCLS sensitised students about the environmental concerns.