Bhubaneswar, Aug. 20: A group of youngsters today took up the task to encourage and motivate people to plant trees.

The initiative comes as a breath of fresh air at a time when rapid industrialisation and global warming are being felt across the world.

Around 30 volunteers took out a decorated bullock cart laden with saplings on the Bhubaneswar road and chanting: " Gacha neba, gacha? (Do you want trees?)".

The group of boys and girls started out with the bullock cart from Satya Nagar and proceeded to Master Canteen Square. The volunteers mobilised and motivated curious onlookers to take saplings from them and plant those somewhere.

About 350 saplings of fruit-bearing trees such as mango, jackfruit and jamun, flowering ones such as krushnachuda and kanchan and those prized for wood such as sishu and polango were given away to people who showed an interest in planting the saplings.

Among the more than 150 people who took the saplings was Mohana MLA Basanti Mallick.

"I would plant it at my home and encourage people in my area to plant trees and keep it green," she said.

Tree for Free is an initiative under the My Tree Campaign of youth group Bakul Foundation, which aims to create an emotional connect between individuals and trees by promoting individual ownership of trees.

"The main objective of the campaign is to promote gifting and plantation of trees as a cultural practice where it becomes a part of the everyday lives of people," said Sujit Mahapatra of the organisation.

Pooja Mishra, who co-ordinated the activity, said: "It was exciting to see so many enthusiastic people accepting the saplings with the intention of planting them. We had decided to give a maximum of three trees to each individual so that the people actually maintain and nurture the saplings. We hope more people fall in love with trees in the process. But we had many people who went to the other end of the bullock cart and asked for plants even after taking the three saplings."

Started in 2009, the campaign has many components through which it promotes the idea of gifting trees. The campaign is also carried out on social media where people put up profile pictures with trees.