Mangaluru :‘Rakshabandhan’ (Rakhi) was tied to the trees at Light House Hill Road as part of ‘Vruksha Suraksha’ campaign organised by Sahyadri Sanchaya on the occasion of World Environment Day here on Monday.

Ramakrishna Mutt president Swami Jithakamananda, Abu Shahir Isac Sakhafi of Siddhik Juma Masjid Marakada and Fr Jerald Furtado of St Aloysius High School, inaugurated the campaign by tying Rakshabandhan to a banyan tree in front of Central Library in Bavutagudda.

Jithakamanandaji regretted that the biodiversity is lost due to the loss of natural habitats. Without birds, animals and insects, food chain will break and the balance of ecosystem will be lost, he expressed concern.

Abu Shahir Isak Sakhafi said a man who plants a tree will be blessed according to the preachings of Prophets. The tree gives shade to people, provides home to birds and also food to animals. The good wishes of all these will add to the account of good deeds of the man who has planted the tree and he will be held in awe in the heavenly abode, he added.

Fr Jerald Furtado explained the importance of World Environment Day and said that it is important to nurture a tree after planting it. He called upon the children to plant more and more saplings. “It is out duty to protect trees,” he added.

Sahyadri Sanchaya convener Dinesh Holla said natural resources are being plundered in the name of development. The rivers and forests in the Western Ghats are vanishing due to the greed of human beings, he said.

An installation art was created by Niranjan and Navin Holla of Aditatva group, signifying the importance of nature. Participants in the programme left their thumb impressions on a canvas to create leaves on the painting of a tree.

A memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Mayor Rajaneesh Kapikad on the occasion.

The memorandum said that while issuing the house license by city corporation, the house owners will be told to plant specific number of trees on the premises, depending on the area of the house. But, it is not been followed.

Therefore, steps must be taken to ensure that the plants are planted without fail. Plants should be marked with registration numbers after conducting a survey in city limits. In the city, sewage flowing in open drains is joining the rivers. Proper measures should be taken to stop the river pollution. Machines indicating the air and sound pollution should be installed.

A memorandum to the forest department’s principal secretary sought measures to douse wildfire in the forests, to grow trees in deemed forest areas and do away with road works or hydro power projects in forests.

Another letter to the Ministry of Environment and Forests read that the Union Government should form Society for Protection of Forest at national, state and district levels to ensure effective implementation of the Forest Law.