Jamshedpur: Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee gifted 20 parents of newborn babies with a sapling that came free along the birth certificate of their child, an initiative it launched on Monday in collaboration with the forest department to encourage tree plantation.

"Through August, we will be giving a sapling free to any parents coming for a birth certificate of their newborn child. The parents will have to take a pledge to nurture the plant like their own child. The parents are free to chose from saplings of flowering or fruit bearing trees. We will also be adding medicinal plants soon," said JNAC special officer Sanjay Kumar Pandey.

JNAC hopes to distribute as many as 15,000 saplings.

DFO Jamshedpur Saba Alam Ansari was the chief guest at Monday's function. "It is a unique initiative and I did not think twice about joining in. We will be providing the saplings from five of our nurseries. We hope parents develop a sentimental attachment to the plant as it is linked with their newborn baby," she said.

Families were excited too. "My granddaughter was born at Steel City Nursing Home on July 15. My son was at work. So I came to the JNAC office to collect the birth certificate. I have taken a bougainvillea sapling for our apartment at Kadma," said Parmatma Kumari (59), a Tata Motors employee.