The Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) on Friday signed an MoU with the Forest and Environment Department for undertaking plantation of at least 10 lakh seedlings during 2015-16. The saplings would be planted in the OMC’s active mining lease areas located in the districts of Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Kalahandi and Jajpur.
“The objective is to restore ecological balance, cover the open space with greenery and improve the degraded forest so that the people around mining areas can earn their livilihood from the minor forest produced,” Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick said. The State mining PSU will spend Rs1.38 crore for plantation of 10 lakh trees. Of the Rs1.38 crore, Rs70 lakh would be paid by OMC to forest and environment department this month and rest of the amount would be paid by September, according to the agreement in the MoU.
OMC would also bear the maintenance cost for three years amounting to Rs2.74 crore. In additional OMC will pay Rs3 crore this year to forest and environment department as material component cost of plantation under MGNREGA. The programme includes plantation of 1.44 lakh seedlings in the Medicinal Plant Park in Dhenkanal district, the agreement said. Forest and Environment minister Bikram Keshari Aruk said his department is planning to plant 12.50 crore seedlings under various programmes.