Saplings bought with tiffin money have been distributed among students at Majhigachha Aktaruzzaman High School in Cumilla Sadar.

The voluntary organisation "Lal Sabuj Unnayan Sangha" distributed the saplings at an unusual event on the school grounds on Thursday (October 23). Hundreds of people from the surrounding area gathered to watch.

Kawsar Alam, central president of Lal Sabuj Unnayan Sangha, said a programme of distributing trees among students at educational institutions across the country, together with a "Say No" to drugs campaign, was launched on May 24 this year. After the programme had been held in 37 districts, the closing ceremony was organised on Thursday at the Majhigachha Aktaruzzaman High School grounds. It was Lal Sabuj's 1,896th event. To fund the programme, students save their tiffin money and give Tk 10 a month.

At the closing ceremony, saplings of various species were distributed to 1,000 students of Majhigachha Aktaruzzaman High School, Amratali High School, Reliance Multipurpose College, Rupashi Bangla Pilot School and Bangla Mission Public School. With this, a total of 50,000 saplings have been distributed in 37 districts over the past five months.

The ceremony was chaired by Kawsar Alam Sohel, founder and central president of Lal Sabuj Unnayan Sangha. Speakers included Cumilla Civil Surgeon Dr Ali Nur Mohammad Bashir Ahmed, Cumilla Adarsha Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fatema Tuz Zohra, Cumilla Sadar Circle Additional Superintendent of Police Saiful Molik, Lalmai Group Arku executive director Jasim Uddin, the organisation's central adviser and Road Star Hotel chairman Moktar Hossain, the organisation's adviser Habibur Rahman Swapan and the school's headteacher Nahid Sultana.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.