Bhubaneswar: Even as the state government has banned sale and bursting of firecrackers this Deepavali because of Covid-19, a city-based outfit has renewed its campaign to gift plants apparently to ward off respiratory diseases by increasing greenery.
It’s a fact that bursting of crackers would increase the pollution level and make people vulnerable to respiratory diseases. It has been a major concern across the world, not only in Odisha, that the incidence of Covid-19 would increase in winter.
This is because wintry weather aggravates respiratory diseases and Covid-19 is also known as SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). This risk is higher in urban areas where the pollution is more but ventilation and greenery are less. Moreover, in winter, the polluting particulate matter such as nitrogen dioxide remains suspended in the air for a longer period.
Trees and natural greenery have an important role as they sequester carbon and other pollutants and release oxygen. It is scientifically claimed that an average tree sequesters about 1 tonne of carbon in its lifetime. But in winter, they become less effective as they shed leaves. There have been significant researches establishing the role of trees in reducing respiratory diseases.
A study proved conclusively that trees make the cities healthier let alone address climate change and provide us shade. Therefore, this Deepavali, in the midst of this pandemic, Bakul Foundation has renewed its 11-year-old campaign to gift plants with greater urgency.
“We give gifts to show that we care for the other person, and there cannot be a better way to show we care during this pandemic than by gifting a plant”, said Sujit Mahapatra, the founder of Bakul Foundation.
With its creative team of volunteers, the outfit has come up with attractive packaging for the plants in cane baskets and jute bags, and one could choose from flowering plants like the ixora or toronia, medicinal plants such as ram tulsi, insulin and ayappan or tree growing plants such as the Bakul, the jackfruit and jamun. There are indoor plants such as spider plant and syngonium as well.
There is a complimentary gift hamper with hand-painted diyas (earthen lamps) and handmade chocolates in a basket that comes with each plant for this festival of lights, and the entire package is priced at Rs 300.
Bakul has been trying to motivate people to gift plants. It started the enterprise of packaged gift plants after 6 years of the campaign when it realized that even if people want to gift plants, they did not have any options to buy packaged gift plants, said the outfit.
