On the occasion of World Environment Day, Southern Command reinvigorated its resolve of continuing with its mega initiative of planting over one and a half lakh saplings and one lakh seed balls through its 136 Territorial Army Battalion (Ecological), adding more greenery for acting as lungs of Pune City. The drive will witness a transformation of over 100 hectare deforested land at various locations in Pune into green zones.
The major areas where these activities have already been carried out at Pune are The Bombay Engineering Group (Dighi), College of Military Engineering (Khadki), National Defence Academy (Khadakwasala) COD (Dehu Road). The drive includes plantation of over 1.5 lakh saplings, dispersal of over 1 Lakh seed balls and creation of a water body of 2500 sq mtr having capacity to store 12.2 lakh ltrs of rainwater. Already over 1 Lakh saplings and 50,000 seed balls have been planted at Aundh Military Station, CME Khadki and NDA Khadakwasala. The plantation work will continue during the current monsoon season.
Every year 2-3 Lakh saplings are planted in various Cantonments of Southern Command spread over 11 states. In a major afforestation initiative spread across various regions in Maharashtra, 136 TA Battalion (Eco) has already taken over 200 hectare land and has enhanced its Nursery capacity from an initial 40,000 saplings to over 2 Lakh saplings.
As part of celebrations of 75 years of Independence ‘Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav’, Lt Gen JS Nain, Army Commander, Southern Army has launched multiple environment conservation projects under “Vision 75 Star” aimed at enhancing the overall eco system. On the World Environment day, Lt Gen JS Nain said that “such environment protection activities have become a necessity and it is the duty of every citizen to contribute positively in preserving and nurturing the environment for a safe and better of our future generations”.
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