Want to extend a ‘green’ helping hand to the Forest Department’s Chennai division?

To meet a burgeoning demand for saplings, it is seeking tie-ups with various stakeholders to raise new nurseries

Though a familiar scenario in cricket, it is certain to bring chewed nails to a match every time it crops up. Chasing the target successfully, one can still come short of the desired outcome and end up with a crown of thorns. It is the net run rate that matters, and is the key to the next level, the play-offs.

Chennai is in a situation that somewhat mirrors this cricketing scenario.

“This year’s tree-planting target for Chennai under Green Tamil Nadu Misison (GTM) is 1.5 lakh trees, but the demand from various stakeholders keen on carrying out greening exercises in the city is about 10 lakh saplings,” reveals Priyadarshini Venkataraman, District Forest Officer (DFO), Chennai Division.

Meeting the target should be easy, but not the demand, that is, if one factors in the inherent challenges.

With just three Forest Department nurseries — in Nanmangalam, Anna Nagar, and Karasangal catering to Chennai and surrounding areas, the division does not “bat deep”.

In fact, until five months ago, this three-pronged green machine was not firing on all cylinders with the Karasangal unit still having to be cranked up and coaxed out of an extended slumber.

“The one at Karasangal nursery was not functioning for the last eight years and the nursery has now been resurrected with funding, which includes seed money of ₹12.9 lakh that was extended to it as part of GTM,” says Priyadarshini.