LONG ISLAND , NEW YORK(TIP): Plantation Ceremony of 150 trees at Gandhi Peace Garden at the State University of New York Old Westbury Campus took place on Oct 1.Prime Minister Narendra Modi  had earlier on September 24declared open the “Gandhi Peace Garden” at a solemn event at United Nations commemorating Gandhi’s 150^thbirth anniversary.

On Sept 24 Modi along with United Nation chief Antonio Guterres and other world leaders, inaugurated the Gandhi Peace Garden at the UN headquarters in New York. The inauguration was held during a special commemorative event  that marked Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.

Gandhi Peace Garden is an innovative initiative under which Consulate General of India (in New York), Shanti Fund (a Long Island-based NGO) and State University of New York- Old Westbury have entered into an agreement for planting 150 trees. It is a crowdsourced project, with people adopting trees in memory of their loved ones at the State University of New York-Old Westbury campus. The garden is in an open site within 600 acres campus of the University. The garden is dedicated in memory of Mahatma Gandhi and seeks to underline that his principles act as a moral compass as world grapples with challenges of climate change, terrorism and corruption.

India’s Consul General in New York Ambassador Sandeep Chakravorty inaugurated the plantation ceremony. Prominent community leaders and  dignitaries graced the occasion.