Hyderabad: A fun way to give back to nature

Hyderabad: "No matter how tall or wide a tree is, it started off a seed," thus goes a saying by Matshona Dhliwayo. There are many reasons to plant a tree. You need only ask yourself.

Making seed balls is one of giving back to nature which nourishes and sustains us. In a heart-warming gesture, Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) NIRMAAN, Council for Green Revolution and Vandemataram Foundation have joined hands to lead a seed ball project to spread green cover in concrete jungle.

In the first phase of project, 3,00,000 seed balls have been prepared by engaging school students, senior citizens and youth as volunteers. Of these over 60,000 seed balls have already been dispersed by volunteers, and the rest will be dispersed in the coming weeks.

"We do this by bringing together multiple stakeholders to contribute towards a Greener Telangana, by collecting seeds of native trees from the forests, and making and dispersing seed-balls to rejuvenate degraded forests," says Soil to Seed campaign organisers.

"In addition to providing security for the Public, the Cyberabad Police also recognises its responsibility towards the Environment, and the Seed to Soil initiative has been undertaken to contribute to the regreening of Telangana. There are many denuded forests around Hyderabad, and if they are rejuvenated, they will serve as lungs for the city. We hope that all the residents of the city would come forward to become Earth Warriors and contribute towards this effort," according to VC Sajjanar, Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad.

"The seed ball project is the first of many initiatives that will be launched under the 'Seed to Soil' umbrella. While making and dispersal of seed balls is important, the success of the project will be in ensuring that we work closely with the Forest Officials and the local community to ensure that the area where the dispersal was done is protected from grazing to give the saplings an opportunity to survive," said

Abdul Waheed, Director of NIRMAAN, informed that they get the volunteers to collect seeds, prepare seed balls and help disperse them in the identified areas. "In the future we are looking at making seed ball dispersal a recurring event where we will organize a green weekend every month where volunteers will go to different places and disperse seed balls," said Venkat Tankasala, Joint Secretary, SCSC.

Seed balls have been prepared in various parts of Telangana by engaging volunteers through project NGOs. The seed balls have so far been dispersed in Kadthal reserve forest, which comes under the limits of the Cyberabad Police. The project is being run in co- ordination with the District Forest Officials.

Currently, a campaign is going on in nearby forests. The Phase 1 will conclude shortly, Dispersing seed balls is be possible once the monsoon recedes. However, the campaign will continue to return to the forest to track and document the progress of the seedlings and saplings.

Despite COVID, organisers have engaged over 200 volunteers including school students and senior citizens in making seedballs and dispersing them in the forest, who between them contributed approximately 6,000 volunteer hours. 3,00,000 seed balls prepared and over 60,000 already dispersed, all of which contain seeds of native trees collected from the forest.