Pune: Aiming for a green revolution, as many as 35,000 students of National Service Scheme (NSS) from various colleges en route Pandharpur will participate in Ashadhi Wari between June 24 to July 12.
Among these 22,000 students, 284 NSS groups will be from Pune district alone, announced Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) Vice-Chancellor Nitin Karmalkar, who has constituted the Managing Committee for this event.
Karmalkar launched the SPPU NSS Wari campaign in the presence of management council members. Rajesh Pande is the head of the Committee, whereas Umarani, Registrar Prafulla Pawar, Head of SPPU NSS Department Prabhakar Desai and members of management council Bageshree Manthalkar, Sanjay Chakane, Prasenjit Fadnavis and Vilas Ugale are also members of the Managing Committee.
The green revolution initiative drew the attention of the Guinness World Record as well.
One of the major events, which is a part of NSS’ activities, is the planting of 15,000 saplings en route Pandharpur.
“We will be distributing around 15,000-20,000 saplings of the Neem tree to students during Wari so that they can plant them on the marked route. Learning about this initiative, the officials of Guinness World Record approached us and said that if we do so, we will get registered in the record,” said Karmalkar.
“But we aren’t doing it for the record. But this will definitely boost our students’ morals to work for the initiative,” said Pro-Vice Chancellor NS Umarani.
Apart from this, the campaign also includes awareness drives on cleanliness, no-addiction, tree plantation, health camps, etc.
The students will also distribute 50 lakh biodegradable plates to Warkaris on the way and also collect the waste and compost it to make fertilizers, which will be then given to farmers.
“Last year, we managed to collect around 91 tonnes of waste, which was given as fertilizers in good quality to farmers,” said Chakane.
“SPPU, along with Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Solapur University, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai and Maharashtra University of Health Science, Nashik, will support the NSS group and the Maharashtra government in smooth conduct of Wari this year,” said Karmalkar.
