Indigenous trees make a comeback at Kariavattom

Thiruvananthapuram: About 2,000 indigenous tree saplings will be planted at Kariavattom campus in areas where acacia trees were removed. Recently, university vice-chancellor Mohanan Kunnummel inaugurated the event by planting a mango tree sapling in front of the material science lab. The indigenous varieties include saplings provided free of cost by the forest department like jackfruits, citrus, seetaphal, guava and wood apples. “The idea is to give more prominence to indigenous fruit trees. We are also planning to set up a mango orchard within the campus with around 100 mango saplings of 50 varieties,” said Harithalayam project coordinator Pramod Kiran RB.A programme to rid the Kariavattom campus of plastic waste was also started under the initiative led by the department of environmental sciences.