In an attempt to speed up the ongoing plantation drive under Birsa Harit Gram Yojna, Rural Development Secretary, Manish Ranjan on Sunday instructed the District Development Commissioners (DDCs) to expedite the plantation work and complete it before August 10 to minimise mortality rate of plants.
During an online review meeting of the scheme, Ranjan expressed displeasure over the slow pace of implementation of the scheme in the State. He also expressed strong displeasure over the slow implementation of BHGY. He also warned all the Block Development Officers (BDOs) through the DDCs who were present in the meeting.
The Secretary said that the implementation of BHGY is not being done in a time bound manner. “Even after giving the time schedule, it was not followed. At present, the work of pit filling for plantation work is going on at a very slow pace. In five days, only 80,000 pits are being filled on a daily basis. In such a situation, if this speed remains, then 20-25 days will be taken only to fill the pit,” he added.
“After August 10, if the saplings are planted, the mortality rate will likely be higher. Along with this, the boundary of more than 5000 schemes has not been constructed. The condition of pit filling in districts like Dhanbad, Simdega, Dumka, Latehar, Godda, Khunti and Ranchi is very bad,” said Ranjan while expressing concern over slow development of the scheme.
The secretary asked to complete the work of filling the pit by August 10 anyhow. In all the plans, it has been asked to ensure the construction of boundaries. In the case of damage to the plants by animal, accountability will be fixed to the BDO concerned. Ranjan instructed to prepare a list of the districts where the work of plantation under the scheme is good and list of the districts where the work is not according to plan so that the Department could chalk out other plans to improve the work. BHGY aims to use over 2 lakh acres of unused government fallow land for afforestation. Around 5 lakh families will be given nearly 100 fruit bearing plants and the initial plantation, maintenance, land work and afforestation works will be taken up through MGNREGA. Over 5 crore fruit bearing plants are expected to be planted in the next few months.
The objective of this scheme is that the person engaged in planting such trees and taking its care will be reaping the benefits of the produce. The department will work to develop market linkages for them. Each family is estimated to receive an annual income of Rs 50,000 every year. The ownership of the land however will remain with the State Government.
