The Jayadev Batika Yog Sadhan Kendra in collaboration with the Jayadev Batika Mahila Yog Sadhan Kendra and the Khandagiri Anchalika Bikash Parishad celebrated Van Mahotsav at the Jayadev Batika here on Sunday.
Chief guest Deputy Conservator of Forests, Enforcement Dr Akshaya Kumar Pattnaik said tree plantation needs to be a mass movement. Plantation under different schemes of the Governments would not be successful unless there is an involvement of local community.
He also said that while planting trees the selection of species needs to be done in consultation with the community and the species should preferably be indigenous ones.
Natural forests are shrinking because of various development projects and urban expansion. Manmade forest is no substitute to natural forest as the former suffers from ecosystem deficit, Pattnaik said. The trees serve as the lungs of the living world, he added.
Jayadev Walkers Club president Dr Sundara Narayana Patro presided over the meeting.
Satyabrata Dash, Kambupani Mishra and Corporator Dillip Majhi spoke, among others. The meeting was followed by tree plantation to mark the occasion.