Chennai: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu flagged off the ‘Tree Ambulance’ initiative, a campaign to save trees, here on International Day of Biological Diversity, Wednesday. The tree ambulance has been conceived, designed, fabricated and equipped to provide first aid treatment to trees, aid tree plantation, assist the shifting of trees, carry out seed ball distribution.
After cyclones Vardah and Gaja uprooted hundreds of trees in Tamilnadu, the green cover has reduced drastically. In an initiative to help the State breathe easy, SASA group under the ideation and founder of green ambulance foundation, Dr Abdul Ghani, introduced tree ambulance in the city, a press release said.
The ambulance can be availed through the helpline number- 9941006786. People can register themselves as volunteers at www.treeambulance.org. Travelling along with the tree ambulance is a plant expert and helpers who are armed with gardening tools, water, manure and pesticide.
“The idea of a tree ambulance is to save trees by caring for sick ones and helping bring back uprooted trees to their feet. With rising pollution levels and diminishing green space, it is vital for fully grown trees to be nurtured and protected. We have the complete equipment including latest mechanical tools, fungicides and fertilizers,” said SASA Group founder
Suresh Krishna Jadhav. He further added, “In phase two, we will completely automise the process of tree lifting and placing. Currently it is semi-automatic. This should happen by December. Our ultimate goal is to set up a tree ambulance in each district of India and develop strong volunteer community to support this programme.”
Caption: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu flagging off tree ambulance in Chennai, Wednesday.