7-foot long rakhi for a tree!

Lucknow: In an initiative to spread awareness about the need to conserve environment, many schoolchildren tied a seven-foot-long rakhi around a tree on Sunday during a cultural programme organised by an NGO in a zoo in Lucknow.

The specially prepared rakhi looked like a peacock and weighed 15 kg’s. It took three days to prepare.

Tying the huge Rakhi around the tree, the schoolchildren also took a vow to protect the tree for lifetime.

The event was held at the Zoological Park and was intended to make people from all age groups realise the need to save trees and plants and maintain a pollution-free environment for a better life.

The programme came up as a part of the NGO’s ongoing drive against felling of trees and for the environment protection.

Organisers said that the purpose was to create an emotional bond between the people and trees.

"For the last two years, we have been running this programme to relate rakhi festival with trees. Just as Rakhi symbolises the bond of love between brothers and sisters, similarly, we want to create an emotional bond between people and trees. The children have been motivated to take a pledge to protect the trees," the organiser, P K Gupta said.

Meanwhile, Director, Zoological Park of Lucknow, Eva Sharma said that the programme would certainly help in enhancing awareness about environment.

"People are gradually becoming more aware about environment. The schools too have introduced a compulsory subject on environment. People in large numbers participate in environmental programmes.

I think that such programmes will definitely help in creating awareness among the people," Eva Sharma said.

However, the participating children felt that the initiative would not only help in preventing felling of trees but help in making the next generation conscious about the significance of environment.

"The main purpose is to save the environment from becoming extinct. If there are trees, the environment will be clean and we will be healthy. We have tied rakhi so that we can save the trees and if we do it today then the next generation will follow us," one of the students Diksha said.

Rakhsha Bandhan, will be celebrated across the country on Wednesday (August 9).