Save Cauvery campaign kicks off in twin cities

Hyderabad: It was a pleasant sight of young men, women and students standing on either side of the roads with placards with slogans of 'Rally for Rivers' and 'Cauvery Calling' on Friday morning. About 2,000 volunteers came together between 8:30 am and 10 am across the city to solicit contributions from passersby.

Srikanth Reddy, an IR employee who volunteered near Forum Mall, Kukatpally said, "We are collecting Rs 42 each which would go into planting a sapling."

'Cauvery Calling' focuses on enhancing farmer wealth while simultaneously impacting river flow and riverine ecosystems. It will enable farmers in the Cauvery basin spanning Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to plant 242 crore trees in the Cauvery basin.

The trees are carefully selected based on local water, soil, and weather conditions and also on their commercial value and will be planted by farmers on their own farmland for economic returns. High-value tree crops will enhance farmer wealth by 300% to 800% in a 5 to 7-year time span. Isha Outreach has successfully proven this model with 69,670 farmers in Tamil Nadu.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, embarked on a 3,500-km journey traversing the Cauvery basin. With the aim of facilitating on-ground, concerted action in the Cauvery basin for revitalization of Cauvery River, thereby transforming lives of 84 million people, the bike rally led by Sadhguru himself rolled from Talacauvery, the birthplace of the river on September 3. The rally will culminate in Coimbatore.