State Urban Development Secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh on Tuesday directed plantation of saplings and hedges on the banks of Harmu River in a bid to conserve the river.

Singh said that the hedges will not just prevent soil erosion on the river banks but will also prevent people from throwing garbage in the river.

Singh, along with a number of officials of Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company Limited (JUIDCO), started a plantation drive on the bank of Harmu River near Tapovan Mandir on Tuesday.

Singh directed JUIDCO officials to set responsibility for not just plantation but also maintenance of saplings and asked them to seek support from all the consultants in this regard.

He asked the officials to conduct meetings with people residing near the bank of the river and make them aware about preserving it.

"Apart from hedges, also get tall netted screens installed in those areas of the river which have bridges so as to prevent people from throwing garbage in the river," he said.

At present, there are plans to plant saplings on a 10.5 kms stretch of the river bank in urban area. "The work of plantation and maintenance of the saplings will be done by consulting and tendering companies under SCR. Also involve companies like L&T, Tata group, Sahpurji-Palanji in tree plantation," the secretary said.

Singh said that the companies doing plantation will also be responsible for conducting meetings with local residents and making them aware.

"Every company will be given a stretch of two kilometres to plant saplings. A total of 15,000 saplings will be planted in this course," he said.