CHENNAI: At a time when reports about encroachment of temple lands are doing rounds in Tamil Nadu , a different effort was taken up to protect temple property. A tree lover created a flower garden on two acres of land and a sacred grove on five acres of land belonging to a temple in Karikal village near Sholingur in Vellore district.S M Manimaran of Tiruttani, who is behind this greening effort, has his own nurseries where he is raising native saplings. These saplings are then freely distributed to those who are keen to plant them. He also provides a helping hand at the time of planting.Magizham, vilvam, atthi, punnai, pungan, naaval, manoranjitham, pala, nelli, nagalingam, vilampazham, vanni, mahogany, arasam, aalam, kdamba, sarakkonnai, maa, coconut and kalyana murungai are some of the species that are raised in his nursery.A total of 300 saplings of native species were planted in the Karikal village on Sunday.“Earlier we raised a flower garden on two acres of land belonging to the temple. Now the temple authorities gave us five acres of land, where they wanted us to create a sacred groves garden. We have plans to plant another 200 saplings before the end of this year,” he said.Manimaran’s efforts were supported by a Vellore-based non-governmental organisation, he added.

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