Social and voluntary organisation Durbar Tarunya has planted trees at DC Hill in Chattogram city. The programme was carried out under the organisation's "Amrai Mali" (We Are the Gardeners) project.

The chief guest at the programme, which began at 11am on Friday 7 October, was the organisation's chief adviser, Helal Akbar Chowdhury Babar.

The event was chaired by Durbar Tarunya founder Muhammad Abu Abid. Also present were local Jubo League leader Shibu Prasad Chowdhury, Durbar Tarunya general secretary Muhammad Abu Adil, organising secretary Md Jihadul Islam, Md Abul Hasan, Kamrul Islam and many others.

Helal Akbar Chowdhury Babar said that, understanding the purpose and need of tree planting, people must plant more saplings and care for them, for the greater good of humankind and all living things. Afforestation plays the biggest role in creating a balanced and pollution-free environment, he said. The oxygen a mature tree supplies in a year meets the annual oxygen needs of at least 10 adults, and it is impossible to survive even a moment in a world without trees.

Speaking about the "Amrai Mali" project, Durbar Tarunya founder Muhammad Abu Abid said what tree planting needs above all is sincerity. "When we say 'Plant trees, save the environment', aren't we cleverly pushing the responsibility of planting onto someone else's shoulders? Whatever else that is, it is not sincerity. If we really want to save the Earth, let what we say be: 'Come, let us plant trees, let us save the environment.' It is trees through which the environment will survive."

To green the city, members of Durbar Tarunya have themselves become gardeners and are working to train new ones. The organisation does not stop at planting trees; through the project it is also working to raise public awareness about caring for them.

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