Palanpur: Banaskantha Dairy on Monday announced ramping up its six-year-old afforestation campaign by sowing over 10 million seedballs over the next 15 days with an aim to rejuvenate the depleted hills of Aravali around temple town Ambaji and Danta.Shankar Chaudhary, Gujarat Legislative Assembly and the dairy chairman, said the exercise is part of the campaign initiated to develop the Aravali mountain range as a ‘Green Wall’ through public participation.The ‘Seedball for Green Wall – Season 6’ campaign was launched from Rabariwas in Panchha village near temple town Ambaji. The programme began with a tree plantation under the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam – 3.0’ campaign. Nine teams have been deployed for the conservation of the Aravali mountain range. “In the last 5 years, we have seen remarkable results of the seed ball campaign in the hilly areas. There’s a visible difference in the five years in hilly areas, including Jesor and Ambaji,” Chaudhary added.Thousands of women livestock rearers from Banaskantha have prepared seed balls from cow dung and clay. This year, seed balls have been prepared using seeds of more than 22 native and hill tree species suited to the ecology of the Aravali range. These species will not only strengthen local biodiversity but can also grow naturally with less water.Sources said trees in Aravali hills play an important role in conserving rainwater and enriching the water sources of rivers such as the Banas, Saraswati and Sabarmati while improving the local rain pattern.
