Felling of 34 Trees between Nandigudda & Marnamikatta in the City Stayed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as Urged by NECF (National Environment Care Federation-Mangaluru Chapter)
Mangaluru: The National Environment Care Federation (NECF), a non-profit organisation, has urged the central government to immediately declare a climate emergency and implement tasks for the upcoming rainy season to tackle the issue of global warming. Addressing the media person during a press meet held at Mangaluru Press Club, Benedict Fernandes-the spokesperson for NECF said, “NECF has urged the central government to issue instructions to all educational institutions in the country to arrange to plant saplings in vacant plots of the city, village and forest land in collaboration with the forest department”.
“There are about 26.5 crore students in India, and each of them shall plant at least 10 saplings. Geo-tagging should be arranged for each sapling so the students will get a unique identity for the one they planted. Further, a green database of each plant should be collated to ensure the health and longevity of each sapling. If possible, the QR code should also be enabled with the ‘know your tree’ feature, and NECF has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the principal chief secretary to the Government of India, and the principal chief secretary to the Ministry of Environment, forest and climate change,” added Fernandes.
He further said, “The services of local administration, forest department and all government departments should be involved in this pan-India drive of plantation on a war footing. Every bureaucrat and every political person should be made to give priority to this drive. The task of controlling forest fires should be assigned to the Indian Air Force. If the central government does not act immediately, NECF will have no other alternative but to knock on the doors of justice in the interest of saving humanity from the possible extinction due to global warming.”
Speaking to Team Mangalorean, Shashidar Shetty-the Secretary of NECF- Mangaluru said, ” In an order dated April 28, 2023, National Green Tribunal (NGT), Chennai, has directed the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) and Mangaluru Smart City Ltd (MSCL) not to fell trees between Nandi Gudda and Marnamikatta stretch for road widening. NGT has clearly ordered “the felling of trees should not be done until further orders from the tribunal. The NGT has stopped the felling of 34 trees between Nandigudde and Marnamikatte in the city, which is among the road stretches being widened by Mangaluru Smart City Limited. The order was passed by the NGT Southern Bench on the original application by the Mangaluru-based National Environment Care Federation (NECF)”.
NECF-Mangaluru members Jeeth Milan Roche, Bhuvan Devadiga, Jayaprakash Yekkuru, and Nagaraj were present on the dais during the press meet.
Thanks to this group of people and the NECF.