Chief Minister Raman Singh took a ‘selfie’ with a tree at his official residence after planting a coconut tree sapling on Tuesday.Singh later appealed to the citizens to plant at least one sapling in the State.The Chief Minister particularly urged the youth to link themselves with the ‘Hariar Chhattisgarh’ (Green Chhattisgarh) campaign.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the target of plantation of 125 crore plants across the country.Singh said that 10 crore saplings are being planted in Chhattisgarh itself.Secretary, Public Relations Department, Ganesh Shankar Mishra was present.
The Chhattisgarh Government has embarked upon an ambitious plan to spread green forest cover by planting ten crore saplings this year.On the auspicious occasion of the first day of ‘Shravan' month, about two crore saplings had been planted in all the 27 districts.
The 'Afforestation' Programme is being carried on a massive scale in the entire State. There is a proposal to plant 10 lakh saplings at the Botanical Gardens in Naya Raipur, officials stated.
The first sapling 'Kalp Vruksh' of the 'Hariyar Chhattisgarh' campaign planted in Botanical Gardens in Naya Raipur was named after Bharat Ratna former President (late) Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
About 500 varieties of saplings have been planted at the Naya Raipur Botanical Gardens located in front of the Jungle Safari spread over 416 acres. It will be one of the largest Gardens in South Asia, officials stated.
Notably, Chhattisgarh has as many as 6750 ‘Eco Clubs’ supported by Centre’s ‘National Green Core’ (NGC) programme and National Environment Awareness Campaign (NEAC) programme, according to the 2014-15 annual report of the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests.
The NEAC was launched in mid-1986 with the objective of creating environmental awareness at the national level. The Ministry embarked upon a major initiative for creating environmental awareness among children by formulating NGC in 2001-02, it stated.
In order to strengthen monitoring mechanism of NGC programme, the Ministry is in the process of establishing ‘Management Information System’ (MIS) which will open up vistas in sharing and assessing the information on HGC among all stakeholders.
The MIS reporting and monitoring would be interactive and creative in ensuring NGC mobility and services, the report stated.There are a total of 92,310 Eco-clubs in the country under the NGC programme with the financial assistance of Rs 24.88 crores.Nearly 1,350 saplings were planted at Indira Gandhi Agriculture University, Raipur, under Hariyar Chhattisgarh Campaign.
University officials, employees and students, led by Vice-Chancellor of the University Dr SK Patil, gave their contribution in Hariyar Chhattisgarh Campaign by planting saplings in the campus.
Dr Patil on the occasion lectured about the importance of greenery for maintaining clean and healthy environment. He emphasised that people should plant more and more saplings for healthyenvironment.