Indian community plants trees at Mudi catchment area
Indian High Commissioner Suresh Menon and Blantyre Water Board (BWB) officials yesterday led the Indian community in planting trees at Mudi catchment area.
Speaking on the sidelines of the exercise, Menon said the gesture signified the good working relationship between BWB and the Indian Government.
The envoy, who claimed it was the first time for the Indian High Commission to participate in the exercise, said they also decided to partner BWB in the tree planting as part of their social and corporate responsibility.
Said Menon: “The government of India and BWB have had a continuous relationship for the past one year in connection with the Mulanje water project [which] the Indian Government is also funding, and we also thought that this would be the right time to have some corporate social responsibility.
“It is also one way for the Indian community to give back to the country and contribute in making the city of Blantyre green.”
In his remarks, BWB board chairperson James Naphambo, said the tree planting initiatives are working to their advantage. He called on other organisations to take part in the exercise.
“The tree planting initiative is really helping a lot because as BWB, we get 10 percent of the water we supply to our customers from Mudi Dam, and planting more trees will help us in its conservation,” he said.
According to Naphambo, out of 800 hectares (ha) of the catchment area about 300 ha has been covered by trees planted so far.
Indian-Malawi community coordinator Mahesh Kotecha said about K2 million was invested in the programme which will see over 5 000 trees planted.
About 150 members of the Indian community took part in the tree planting exercise. n
