Sundaram Finance, Environmental Foundation to launch sustainability initiative

Chennai, Jan 2 (PTI) Non-banking finance company, Sundaram Finance, has partnered with Environmentalist Foundation of India to launch a sustainability programme aimed at encouraging people to develop their own kitchen gardens, a top official of the company said on Friday.

The initiative named 'Grow Your Food' is to be launched during the company's Mylapore Festival, its Managing Director Rajiv Lochan said.

"Citizens will be trained to set up their own kitchen gardens as part of the initiative," he told PTI in a brief interaction.

Elaborating on the plan, he said, a workshop would be conducted during the Mylapore Festival, a cultural festival being conducted for the 21st year in a row, scheduled to be held here between January 8 and 11.

After taking part in the workshop, the participants would join a 'BlueGreen Club' which comprises a community of kitchen garden enthusiasts.

"This group will connect and evolve into a vibrant network of practitioners. Environmentalist Foundation of India (a wildlife conservation and habitat restoration group) will mentor and manage the club on behalf of Sundaram Finance", he explained.

Lochan pointed out that this initiative would be taken up countrywide with the support of employees. The initiative would be scaled nationwide through Sundaram Finance branches.

"Around 70 employees (of Sundaram Finance) will get enrolled under the Green Task Force, which is an employee volunteering movement dedicated to identifying and promoting sustainability initiatives," he said.

"During the Mylapore festival, Sundaram Finance will also launch a new initiative, BlueGreen Mile, to encourage citizens to walk ", he said.

"We expect thousands of people to visit the festival during the four days (January 8 to 11). The festival transforms the locality into a living cultural canvas drawing residents, artists and cultural enthusiasts across Chennai and beyond," he said.

The Director of the Festival, Vincent D'Souza said, "Over 150 artistes are performing on four evenings of the festival. School children from the city and dance artistes from Tiruchirappalli and from Tiruppur will participate in them. Eight heritage walks are being planned, which will cover heritage houses, famed snack stalls to temples and a tour on bicycles for children." As part of promoting entrepreneurship from Mylapore, he said, the 'Spirit of Mylapore' award will be presented to a long-term resident or an institution that has contributed significantly to the culture and heritage, he said. PTI VIJ VIJ ADB