Chhattisgarh has received 252 mm of average rainfall in the ongoing monsoon season so far. The insurgency infested Sukma district which is one of the densely forested regions of the State registered highest average rain upto 594 mm, an official statement informed on Monday.

During the past 24 hours till Monday morning, the State registered average 9.2 mm rainfall. Officials of Revenue and Disaster Management Department informed that starting from June 1 by June 29, Chhattisgarh has recorded 252 mm of average rainfall. The lowest rainfall was recorded in Surajpur district which was 65 mm.

As per the data Koriya district recorded 75 mm rain, Surguja 105 mm, Surajpur 65 mm, Balrampur-Ramanujgunj 100 mm, Jashpur 129 mm, Raigarh 221 mm, Mahasamund 275 mm, Raipur 229 mm, Baloda Bazaar Bhatapara 182 mm, Gariaband 192 mm, Janjgir-Champa 223 mm, Kabirdham 132 mm, Rajnandgaon 216 mm, Durg 247 mm, Bemetara 248 mm, Balod 183 mm, Dhamtari 223 mm, Narayanpur 546 mm, Dantewada 358 mm and Bijapur recorded 549 mm of average rainfall.

Notably, State Government’s Agriculture Department has set the target of cultivating cereals, pulses, oilseeds and other crops on area of 48.20 lakh hectares in current Kharif season.

The task includes cultivation of paddy, corn, lentils, urad, soyabean and peanuts on 43.79 lakh hectares. In remaining 4.31 lakh hectare of area, other crops will be sown, officials stated.

Agriculture Department officials also informed that target has been set to grow paddy on 36.45 lakh, corn on 2.25 lakh hectare, lentils on 1.42 lakh hectares, Urad on 1.64 lakh hectares, Soyabean on 1.58 lakh hectares and peanut on 55,000 hectares.

Moreover, the Chhattisgarh Government has also set a formidable target of planting as many as 10 crore saplings under its ‘Hariyar Chhattisgarh Campaign’ this monsoon season.

The plantation drives will be taken up at various locations of the State, officials stated.

Nearly eight crore saplings will be planted by various departments of the State Government, while remaining two crore saplings are to be planted by industries and other private organizations.

This target was finalized recently in the meeting of ‘Hariyar Chhattigarh Campaign’ chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh at the Mantralaya in Naya Raipur.

Singh deliberated upon preparations for conducting the campaign, and decided to organize intensive plantation programmes in all the districts of the State on July 31.

The Chief Minister instructed officials to meet the target of planting 2 to 2.5 crore saplings in all the villages and cities of the State including Naya Raipur, on July 31.

It is noteworthy that July 31 is the day when great litterateur Munshi Premchand was born.

Singh said that maximum number of school, college students and public representatives should be invited to take part in the plantation programme to be organized on July 31.

He instructed the officials to invite people from all sections of the society, senior citizens and also social service organizations in order to ensure success of these plantation drives.

Singh said that many important species of trees are found in Chhattisgarh, which have high significance in manufacturing of medicines, food products and other goods. But these species are going extinct of late.

Hence, he suggested that tissue culture technique should be adopted for preservation of these endangered species like Char-chiraunji, bamboo etc.

Singh expressed dissatisfaction over slow progress of work in Tissue culture labs operated by Forest Department, and instructed them to expedite the lab work. He said that the work of operating these Tissue culture labs, located in Raipur, Jagdalpur and Bilaspur, should be outsourced as per the requirement.

The Chief Minister instructed the officials concerned to consider possibilities of shifting, instead of cutting old trees for construction of roads.

Singh said that in this modern era, advanced techniques for shifting of trees are available, which are widely practiced in many countries. He instructed all the departments to ensure sapling plantation as per the department-wise targets allotted.

Singh said that like previous year, maximum number of industries should be associated with this campaign to make it a huge success.