The Indian Premier League’s team KKR planted trees in the Sundarbans in celebration of the World Earth Day.
By Amila Khan
In celebration of World Earth Day on April 22, 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders, a prominent Cricket Team of the Indian Premier League (IPL), planted trees in the Sundarbans (Indian parts) to take care of the Sundarbans, which was recently severely damaged by the devastating Cyclone Amphan.
The Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest globally, spreads across Bangladesh and India and is known for its unique flora and fauna. However, the people of this region pay a heavy price for this.
On May 20 2020, one of the fiercest cyclones the Bay of Bengal has ever produced, Amphan, ripped through West Bengal and Bangladesh. Cyclone Amphan has battered West Bengal and Bangladesh’s coastal area and badly damaged parts of the Sundarbans, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The monster storm felled more than 12,350 trees of the delicate forest, according to the summary of findings by four Forest Department committees formed to fathom the enormity of the damage caused by Amphan.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the two-time winning league titles ((2012 and 2014) ) of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has taken the initiative to a sapling in the vast Sundarbans across the coastal belt of Bay of Bengal in Khulna, Satkhira,
Bagerhat, Patuakhali and Barguna districts of Bangladesh and the two districts of the Indian state West Bengal, the North Chabbis Pargana and the South Chabbis Pargana.
KKR took the initiative is to plant trees so that the Sundarbans can remove their wounds due to Amphan.
The prominent Bollywood film star Juhi Chawla has also taken the initiative to plant 5,000 trees to bring back the Sundarbans damaged by the cyclone.
KKR launched the ‘Plant a Six’ project a few years ago. One sapling is planted for every over boundary hitting by the KKR players against the opponent team while playing at the Cricket game in the league. This time the Kolkata team came forward to plant trees again.
April 22, 2021, on World Earth Day, a KKR delegation visited various places in the Patharpratima block of the Indian part of the Sundarbans and distributed saplings among the villagers. The group included former world beauty Ushoshi Sengupta, social activist Urmi Basu, Newlight and Mir Foundation members.
KKR is not in an advantageous position in the ongoing IPL. KKR has won only one of their first four matches with Shakib-Andre Russell. They have no choice but to win the next matches if they want to fight for the title.
