We have witnessed instances where a single human effort brings significant change in the surroundings. How about a village collectively working to bring some change?
Well, meet Responsible Citizens iYakkam (RCi) active in the southern part of Tiruvannamalai district of Tamilnadu. They have been constantly working to restore greenery in the hills. Within a year they have brought some interesting chages in the are they wanted to rejuvenate.
They started off with a very unique idea wherein they selected an individual from each family in Melpachar and called his/her house a “Pasumai Pachar” (Green Star House of Village).
Then they started their plantation drives where thet planted fruit generating trees for wild animals.
Their selfless efforts started gaining administrative attention and the Block development, Rural development and various departments of Government of Tamilnadu join in.
To restore the Hill to total green status they have been interacting with Asst. Project Director (Rural development -TN ) Mr. Lakshmi Narasimhan & Mr. Amrita Raj , Block Development officer, Thandrampattu Block in person, over phone and by letter, Responsible Citizens iYakkam team have been insisting that all the non patta common land on the hill should have complete green cover. They had also highlighted the importance to the Village Panchayat exceutives.
No of times youth have planted tree saplings on hills in the past. Even RCi had planted seed balls all over the hill in Aug 2018. But shepherds and cowherds regularly grazed this no man’s land with their cattle preventing any growth.
RCi is looking forward to protect the planted saplings in the hilly regions. They have so far planted 5000+ saplings in the hill.
A drown picture of the same shows their growth. We are privileged to have found such villagers and volunteers of RCi who have took up this task of reviving the greens in the hills.
