PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Pantnagar
Marking the Harela festival, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) on Thursday launched a 15-day ‘Green Yajna’ campaign with a target of planting and protecting 50,000 saplings across its campus, research centres, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and adopted villages.
The governor and chancellor of the university, Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) inaugurated the campaign by planting a Rudraksha sapling and visiting a mango exhibition. Addressing the gathering, he said Harela symbolises gratitude towards nature and farmers, and urged the university to lead a ‘Green Revolution 2.0’ through climate-resilient agriculture, artificial intelligence, water conservation and farmer-centric research.
Addressing the programme, the vice-chancellor Shivendra Kumar Kashyap said that the plantation drive aims to evolve into a people’s movement for environmental conservation through community participation.
During the event, five distinguished alumni were felicitated and they announced collaborations with the university in areas, including carbon mapping, bio-refineries, agri-innovation and food technology.
A progressive farmer Anoop Maurya was also felicitated with a cash award of Rs 1.25 lakh for his outstanding work in dragon fruit cultivation, while SBI’s Pantnagar branch contributed Rs three lakh for the plantation drive and provided 500 tree guards for sapling protection.
