The Uttar Pradesh government announced in the Assembly on Wednesday that 95 per cent of the 22 crore saplings planted in one day last year, creating a record, have survived and arrangements have been made to ensure their proper growth.
Amused at the revelation, Bahujan Samaj Party member Vinay Shankar Tiwari, who had put forward the query during the Question Hour, reparteed that when 95 per cent of wheat does not survive, what to talk about trees.
On August 9, 2019, UP made its entry into the Guinness Book of World Record by planting 22 crore saplings in one day. This year, the target of plantation has been fixed at 25 crore.
Replying to a couple of questions in the House, Forest Minister Dara Singh Chauhan said the government had provided Rs 100 crore for the upkeep of these saplings while a third party checking was being done to get the real picture.
Alleging that the government was making incorrect statement, opposition members claimed that over 50 per cent of the saplings had withered and died.
But Singh refuted this by saying that the government had ensured full protection of the saplings.
In reply to another question of Mohammed Aslam Rainee (BSP), the forest minister said that around 3.83 crore saplings were planted during 2015-16 while around 5.08 crore saplings were planted in 2016-17. “Of these, around 75 per cent saplings survived,” he said.
Polythene ban: Replying to another question on the use of polythene despite the government banning its in 2018, Urban Development Minister Ashutosh Tandon said that the government had taken stern action against illegal use of polythene.
“We have seized 6.52 tons of plastic and polythene in the last two years after the ban and a fine of Rs 7.40 crore was collected from the offenders,” he said.
Tandon also said that the government was making all efforts to create awareness among the masses to shun polythene and had even issued direction to 17 nagar nigams to enforce the ban strictly.
The minister further said an enforcement team had been set up in all nagar nigams under a retired army colonel to strictly deal with the illegal use of polythene and plastic.