Chief Minister Raman Singh has directed the Forest Department officials to come out with an elaborate Action Plan for an intensive plantation drive to be taken up in the State under Hariyar Chhattisgarh (Green Chhattisgarh) drive before arrival of monsoons.
As per the allotted target, in the year 2015, the Forest department will plant 5 crore saplings of different species and the Forest Development Corporation will plant 1 crore saplings, whereas, other departments will jointly plant the remaining 2.02 crore saplings.
Notably, the State Government had last year decided to have all its river banks lined with trees during the coming years in a bid to ensure a greener State besides protecting the environment in an era of negative impact of climate change.
Chief Minister Raman Singh has provided special emphasis on saplings to be planted on the river banks, officials informed. Eighty forest management committees and villages are being linked to the Green India Mission. The forest circles are Kawardha, Bilaspur, Marwahi, Katgora, Bastar, Kanker, South Kondagaon, Raipur, North Sarguja and South Sarguja.
The Forest department officials had informed that the landscape of forest mandals were demarcated. An awareness campaign, landscape survey, basic information, soil and water protection etc are undertaken during the first year.
Chief Minister Raman Singh during the early months of 2014 had directed officials to prepare a Rs3,200-crore action plan for the next five years from the funds to be received from Centre’s ‘Campa Fund’. A Rs600-crore action plan would be prepared for each year, he said. About Rs3,200 crore ‘State Campa Fund’ is currently available with the Central Government.
Singh had also directed to launch a special drive for planting trees on the sides of road from Mainpat in Surguja and Jagadalpur to Chitrakot Waterfalls. He had directed to plant only one variety of saplings on one road, with which not only the beauty of the road would be enhanced, but it would get a new identification also.
The State government had set a target of planting 7.58 crore saplings of different species under “Harier Chhattisgarh Abhiyan” (Green ChhattisgarhCampaign) in the State during 2014. Moreover , the Chief Minister in June last year while chairing a meeting had expressed annoyance over the industrial bodies not completing their target for planting saplings given in 2013 while stating that now they would not have the freedom to plant saplings on their own.
Now, the industrial organisations would have to deposit the amount prescribed by the State government to the State Forest Development Corporation for planting of saplings. This apart, the Chief Secretary himself would now hold meetings every three months and review its progress, he had stated . Singh had stated that industrial organisations have the social responsibility of making the environment pollution free.
The Chief Minister had asked senior officers of Forest Department to take the ‘Green Chhattisgarh Campaign’ seriously and to ensure better care of saplings to be planted under the campaign. He had stated that any kind of carelessness at any level would not be tolerated. Singh had stressed on making the State greener for creating a healthy environment.
The objective of ‘Harihar Chhattisgarh Abhiyan’ should be to create jobs and a permanent source of income for people, Singh had stated. He had declared a target to plant 20 lakh saplings during the next four years to enhance greening of Naya Raipur region.
In July 2014, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand had asked the industrial houses operating in Chhattisgarh to complete the plantation target assigned to them by the State government under its ‘Green Chhattisgarh’ campaign. Reviewing the work underway in the State to meet the plantation targets, the Chief Secretary had also urged the industrialists to plant fruit bearing and shade providing trees such as Mango, Tamarind, Neem, Jamun, Bel, Peepal , Amla, Mahua Karanj etc alongside roads .
He told them not to plant Chatim or Saptaparni trees at any cost. If the industrial units plan to take up some other place for plantation, they need to consult the concerned District Collector and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), the Chief Secretary said. Moreover, Chief Minister Raman Singh in 2014 had set his dream target of greening Chhattisgarh with massive and successful tree plantation drives to be taken up by the various government departments as well as corporates operating in the State.
The State government, under the “Hariyar Chhattisgarh Abhiyan” (GreenChhattisgarh Campaign), had set department-wise target of planting 15.60 crore saplings within two years. In accordance with the allotted target, government departments have started preparations. Singh has asked all the officers to work seriously for the achievement of the assigned target.