The Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) on Thursday demanded adequate safeguards before carrying out massive plantations under the Green Mahanadi Mission. In a memorandum to the Odisha PCCF and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change, the WSO pointed out that a massive plantation over 75,760 hectares of Government land and 47,470 hectares of private land which would be done under this mission with an outlay of Rs 200 crore for its first phase for 2018-19 for planting two crore saplings in a width of 1 km may jeopardise the river’s ecology.
The WSO has pointed out that most of the planting is expected on the river plains, i.e., the low-lying areas beyond the embankment which also receives high floodwaters. The Green Mahanadi Mission needs to be implemented with caution since it can also have harmful and irreversible impacts on riverine ecology, wildlife and local livelihoods. WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty further added that it would be unwise to convert the riverine wildlife islands into forests. This would lead to replacement of natural vegetation and destroy nesting, feeding and basking areas of wildlife species.