Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) welcomed 2022 in an eco-friendly way with a ‘Green New Year’ initiative on January 1. Passengers were greeted with neatly stacked saplings of various fruit-bearing trees at the exit of the arrival hall.
Interested passengers received free saplings on showing their boarding pass with a request to nurture it for the next three months, a move that would entitle them to a gift voucher from MIA. Passengers were requested to share pictures of them planting the sapling and its progress after 90 days, after which they will receive a gift voucher on e-mail from MIA.
The initiative received enthusiastic response from passengers, especially from those who had space in their residences to plant the sapling and nurture it, and they picked up saplings of their choice.
MIA arranged 150 saplings of chikoo, mango, jackfruit, and guava. For connoisseurs of fruits, the choice was between Neelam, Mallika, Alphonso and Banganapalli varieties of mango, honey and gum-less jackfruit, and Arka Kirana, Pink Guava, Malaysian Jambu and Pink Jambu varieties of guava. Mango and guava plant saplings emerged the hot favourites among passengers.
Passengers taking home a sapling was a common sight at the airport on January 1.
Amogh Raj, a professional from Bengaluru bound for Udupi, lauded the initiative of MIA. This initiative will help create awareness about the need to plant and nurture trees, he said.
Rakshit Shetty from Surathkal, who settled for a guava sapling, said he will plant it in the space available in his house.
