Students and staff of VikramaSimhapuri University (VSU) in Nellore took part in a saplings plantation programme held on the university premises as part of the green and clean drive taken up by the NSS wing on Sunday.

VSU registrar M. Chandraiah called upon the students to actively participate in community-oriented awareness programmes. He said greenery would go a long way in keeping pollution under check.

Highlighting the need for protecting the saplings in addition to planting them in suitable areas, East Godavari district Collector Kartikeya Misra in Kakinada called upon people to take part in the ‘Vanam-Manam’ programme by undertaking massive plantations in vacant lands.

Flagging-off an awareness run on the ongoing plantation drive at the II-Town police station junction in Kakinada, Mr. Misra said the drive was intended to improve the green cover and to reduce air pollution.

“At a time when development is taking place, we have to accord equal importance to environmental protection as well,” he said, adding that the State was supplying saplings through the Forest Department and was expecting the general public to plant them and water them regularly.

Schoolchildren, teachers, employees of different government departments and senior citizens participated in large numbers in the rally that culminated in Jagannaikpur in Kakinada. City MLA VanamadiVenkateswara Rao and others were present.

The Municipal Corporation of Rajamahendravaram had decided to plant one lakh saplings in the coming months in the city and the suburbs .

Announcing this while starting the Green Run rally in Rajamahendravaram, Municipal Commissioner V. Vijaya Rama Raju said during Godavari Pushkarams-2015 they took up massive plantation throughout the city and developed landscaping at junctions. Mayor PantamRajaniSesha Sai and AdireddyApparao, MLC also spoke.

The rally started from Anam Kala Kendram and culminated at PushkaraGhat. .