Mission tree plantation on foot

Spending nights at temples, eating five-rupee meals and travelling about 15-20 km a day has been a routine for 44-year-old Kotagiri Srinivas Goud for the last eight months but, there is no trace of fatigue as he goes about his mission.

Inspired at a very early age on the virtues of tree plantation and following a legacy left by his forefathers who planted trees in his village Chinnaguavelly near Siddipet, Srinivas cultivated the habit of planting saplings from Class VI.

When in school, a lesson ‘Plant a tree’ inspired him and he has not looked back ever since. Till date he planted over a lakh trees in Telangana, mostly in Medak district; he has plans to cover all 31 districts in the State.

This is the fourth time that Srinivas has embarked on a tree plantation mission on foot. He started his journey on February 17 on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s birthday from Siddipet and reached the city on March 28. Throughout his journey he distributed saplings to villages on either side of the Siddipet-Hyderabad highway.

“I make sure that the saplings are planted by the village sarpanch and that he takes care of them. In the case of colleges and universities the responsibility goes to the head of departments, vice-chancellors and principals,” says the environment enthusiast.

Srinivas is visiting prominent educational institutions in the city to educate students about plantation drives through his lectures. He covered Nizam College, PG College Secunderabad, several departments in Osmania University, MANUU and numerous schools in the city so far.

He believes that apart from planting trees there is a need to spray seeds in wasteland, which would green the whole area.

A father of two, Srinivas is now looking back to go back to his village. A post graduate who worked as a Telugu lecturer, as a district resource person under the MNREGA programme and as a Vidya volunteer in government schools, he now dedicates his time to spreading awareness on greening the environment.

“I am seeking for an appointment with the Chief Minister and want to offer a sapling and also seek assistance from the State Government to follow my passion so that I can cover the whole of Telangana,” he says on a concluding note.