Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra has asked the District Collectors to start massive horticultural plantation under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and complete plantation work in around 22,000 hectares of land between August 30 and September 15.
Mohapatra took a review of the horticulture plan through videoconferencing with the Collectors. Agriculture Secretary Rajesh Verma, Forest & Environment Secretary RK Sharma, Director of Horticulture Sanjeev Chadha and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Priyanath Padhi attended the conference.
The 22,000 hectares of land for plantation in all the 30 districts have been identified by the respective district administrations and horticultural offices. The review revealed that so far plantation has been completed in about 11,000 hectares of land and groundwork for the balance land is over.
The Collectors were asked to expedite the matters relating to vailability of funds for plantation and complete the target by the end of current planting season.
The review showed that against a target of plantation in 21,991 hectares of land, so far sanction has been made for 18,482 hectares. The project cost is estimated at `391.75 crore. The entire project work has been taken up and plantation has been completed in 11,000 hectares till date.
While the target for Kandhamal district is set at 1,123 ha, plantation is completed in 430 ha so far. Similarly, even if the entire fund has been released for Kendrapada district, plantation has been completed only in 60 ha against a target of 182 ha. Plantation in about 692 ha against a target of 1,197 ha in Keonjhar district is completed.
Other districts like Khurda have completed plantation in 199 ha, 820 ha in Koraput, 2,868 ha in Mayurbhanj (target 4,900), 300 ha in Malkangiri, etc.
Aiming at generating person-days under the Central flagship scheme, the MGNREGS envisages that horticultural plantation of saplings including mango, litchi, orange, cashew etc. can be carried out both in Government and
private lands.