The Uttar Pradesh government is all set to create a new record by planting 25 crore saplings during the week-long Van Mahotsav on Sunday.
The tree plantation programme was launched on Thursday. During the over-four-year Yogi Adityanath regime, more than a hundred crore saplings have been planted so far.
On this occasion, Governor Anandiben Patel will plant saplings in Jhansi while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will carry out tree plantation along the soon-to-be-opened Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur. Besides, the ministers in-charge and nodal officers will carry out tree plantations in respective districts and also monitor the programme.
The chief minister had earlier directed officials to plant saplings along expressways and highways. Different targets have been fixed for each district and so far 17 crore saplings have been provided to people and organisations.
“The Yogi government has set a target to plant 30 crore saplings during Van Mahotsav which has been transformed into a mass movement involving various departments, non-governmental organisations and other agencies. Plants of the species of choice have been provided free of cost to interested people as per agro-climatic compatibility. In order to encourage people’s participation in the programme, the government has also started a competition and top planters will be rewarded. Under this, the photo of planting saplings will have to be loaded on the Forest department website. The government will also reward special entries for plantation,” said an official spokesman in Lucknow on Saturday.
Since the first Van Mahotsav in 2018, 60.24 crore saplings of different species have been planted. Besides, a large number of saplings were planted on Environment Day and other such occasions. All preparations have been made to make the plantation campaign fully successful. As many as 26 government departments are coordinating in this endeavour with the Forest department being the nodal agency.
While a target of planting 19.20 crore saplings has been given to these departments, the Forest department will plant the remaining 10.80 crore saplings. As per agro-climatic zone, a total of 42.17 crore saplings have been prepared in 1,813 nurseries of the Forest department to ensure timely availability of plants as per public demand in every district. Besides, the Silk and Horticulture departments have also prepared saplings in their nurseries.
The Forest department will provide free saplings to government departments, various court premises, farmers, institutions, individuals, private and government schools, Central government undertakings, local bodies, railways, defence, industrial units and cooperatives. For ensuring transparency, the department planting saplings will also get geo tagging of that place.
Since 2017, both forest cover and tree cover have increased in Uttar Pradesh largely due to such plantation drives. As per State Forest Report 2019 of the Forest Survey of India, there has been an increase of 127 km in forest cover in the state as compared to 2017. The report further says that tree cover of the state has spiked to 3.05 per cent, pipping the national average of 2.89 per cent.