Now, an ambulance for trees: Chennai gets a tree ambulance to relocate, revive trees
The ambulance will help in planting trees that have been uprooted, and offer services such as distribution of plants and helping citizens in tree plantation drives.
Climate change is very real, and unless we act fast, has the potential to cause much damage to life and property with changing weather patterns and natural calamities.
Every step counts here, even the smallest one – and one such initiative is the tree ambulance in Chennai. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu flagged off the tree ambulance on the occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22.
The Tree Ambulance (Image: Ritz Magzine)
Also read: Meet the man who has planted over 1M trees in 30 years
The ‘ambulance’ will ply on the roads, taking tree exerts to various parts of the city to revive and hopefully even replant hundreds of uprooted trees. The cyclones Vardah and Gaja led to many trees being uprooted, and now the tree ambulance will try to relocate and replant them.
According to The Logical Indian, the initiative is the brainchild of K Abdul Ghani, known as the Green Man of India. The initiative is supported by the SASA Group.
The ambulance will help in planting trees that have been uprooted, and offer other services such as a seed bank, distribution of plants, and helping citizens in tree plantation drives. It also shifts trees from one location to another and conducts surveys of trees. The ambulance offers the service of removing dead trees, according to The New Indian Express.
Suresh Krishna Jadhav receiving an award from Vice President Venkaiah Naidu (Image: The Logical Indian)
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The ambulance has helpers and a plant expert, who carry gardening tools, water, manure, and pesticide with them.
Speaking to UNI India, Krishna Jadhav, Founder of SASA Group, said,
“With rising pollution levels and diminishing green space, it is vital for fully grown trees to be nurtured and protected. We have complete equipment including mechanical tools, fungicides, and fertilisers. In phase two, we will automate the process of tree lifting and placing; now it is semi-automatic. This should happen in December.”
The tree ambulance will also visit schools and other institutions to educate people on the importance of planting trees and increasing the green cover.
K Abdul Ghani told The New Indian Express:
“During Vardah, about one lakh trees were uprooted in the city and not even one was replanted. This is where the tree ambulance could help. If a call is made to the helpline number, we will relocate the trees at free of cost.”
He added, “In Chennai alone, there are hundreds of dead trees found in open places posing a hazard to the public. We will help remove the dead trees and plant new saplings”.
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Also read: This NGO is making Mumbai ‘greener’ by planting a dense forest in the middle of the city