Khammam: Electrician’s love for nature helps spread greenery in Khammam

Khammam: He is a private electrician by profession and his favourite work is environmental conservation. 44-year-old Kontu Sambaiah of Enkoor in the district, who dropped out of intermediate studies, has extraordinary environmental consciousness and is working hard to make a positive impact on the environment. He has been planting saplings and growing different varieties of saplings, mainly fruit trees, in and around Enkoor, the mandal headquarters on the Kothagudem-Khammam highway, for the past decade. Despite being busy as an electrician repairing irrigation motors of farmers, he visits nearby hills like Cheemalpadu Gutta, Kallur Gutta, Imam Nagar Gutta and others to plant saplings or sow seeds besides watering the planted saplings. Speaking to Telangana Today, Sambaiah said his wife Sita and daughter Sai Triveni also support him in his efforts to spread greenery. He plants saplings of fruit trees so that monkeys in the forests get food and stop coming to villages and towns. He told that he collects and sows seeds of tamarind, Madras Thorn (Seema Chitkaya), Asian Palmyra (Thatti Chettu), wild almond and other types of trees. He plants six-month-old almond saplings by making a nursery in his house. Sambaiya told that initially he used to plant saplings in the villages of Enkur Mandal, but people used to cut them and choose the hills to develop greenery. In summer, he goes to the hills with water cans to water the plants and fills small water cans to give water to the birds. It is the responsibility of every person to develop greenery, so that global warming can be stopped, otherwise the coming generations can suffer a lot. He said that he has planted about 5000 saplings and sown 15 quintals of seeds so far. Sambaiya has recently started an innovative campaign, in which he is roaming the streets with plants in plastic cans and highlighting the dangers of global warming by wearing an oxygen mask. He received the Dr BR Ambedkar Fellowship Award-2019, a certificate of appreciation and a cash prize at the first Telangana Foundation Day celebrations in recognition of his efforts to protect the environment.