Critical Edge Alliance
TISS Tuljapur – Plantation Drive
In 2019, the government of the State of Maharashtra, India has organized Mega Plantation Drive 2019, an initiative aimed at planting 330 million trees throughout the state. It is part of the Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar’s project to plan 500 million trees in 4 steps: the first saw 10 million trees planted, followed by step 2 - 30 million - and step 3, 130 million trees. The remaining 330 million constitute the ambitious last step of the project.
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The program included an extensive campaign to encourage wide popular participation. In the context of this large project, TISS’s Tuljapur campus wanted to set an example for other institutions in the area by organizing, in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra, a plantation drive on campus with the aim of planting 2019 trees. On the 24th of July 2019, Plantation Drive was inaugurated by Deepa Mughol, District Collector of the Osmanabad District.
The initial phase of plantation was a successful one. But it still wasn't enough to complete the plantation drive with over approx. 1300 saplings left to be planted. A group of students took the task into their hands. They have redistributed around 200 saplings with the help of social work students to nearby villages, and planted the rest. They now water, mulch and weed around 1500 plants. Recently, in an unfortunate event, a grass fire has taken almost half of the plantation. This shows the need to grow more trees, and the group of engaged students is up to the task!