BARA: Students of Bara Academy School have planted saplings to mark the 35th World Environment Day in Jeetpur Simara Sub-Metropolitan City-16 in Bara district.

Director at the Piluwa-based school, Hari Dev Kharel informed that 450 students from grade VI to X celebrated the World Environment Day by planting 300 saplings of various species in open spaces near Piluwa in Halkhoriya Forest area.

Students marched in a rally carrying placards and banners printed with slogans -- save environment, plant tree, protect forest -- around Piluwa village before planting saplings of bakaino, ashoka, papaya, mango, jackfruit, lychee, guava and other flowering plants.

In a separate programme organised to mark the World Environment Day, denizens of Simara lamented that some of the industries operating in the locality caused a high level of pollution. Locals cited the emissions from those industries as the cause of cancer and other fatal diseases.

On the occasion, Province 2 Province Assembly member, elected from Bara Constituency 4 "Ka", Sundar Bishwakarma opined that all three levels of government — local, provincial and central — should go hand-in-hand to protect the environment.

The programme was organised by Janahit Consumers' Committee chairperson Amrit Lal Shrestha in coordination with chairperson of Radha-Krishna Community Forest Committee, Chola Bahadur Pandit.

Similarly, Chief Conservation Officer at Parsa National Park was of the view that protection of forests was necessary for environment conservation.