Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), district administration of Ganjam would undertake massive plantation in the areas affected by the cyclone Phailin in the district, informed Collector Prem Chandra Chaudhary.
The Collector said the programme would be carried out through different agencies after relaxation of model code of conduct imposed by the Election Commission (EC). Earlier, the administration had sought permission from EC to take up the programme.“We can go ahead with plantation with the onset of monsoon. It would be implemented with the help of forest, soil conservation and horticulture wings,” an officer said.
“We need to raise nurseries and complete earth work before plantation is taken up,” said DFO (Brahmapur) SS Mishra. He said plans are afoot to sow 46.75 lakh saplings across the district at an estimated cost of Rs23.2 crore.Saplings would be planted in different towns over 500 hectares of land along a 30 km-long coast and 2,000 hectares of natural forests.Notably, around two lakh trees were uprooted and forests damaged during the Phailin in October last year.