Indigenous plants like Banyan, Peepal, Pakad, Neem, Bael, Amla, Mango, Jackfruit, and Drumstick will get preference in Yogi led Uttar Pradesh.
LUCKNOW, June 24 (The CONNECT) - Uttar Pradesh is set to increase its green cover under the state government’s mega plantation drive from July 1.
Under the drive, 35 crore saplings will be planted across the state till August 15. On August 15, to mark ‘Azadi ka Amrit Varsh’, 75 saplings will be planted in each village of the state.
Chairing a high-level review meeting, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that with the spirit of Indian culture of nature conservation, there is a need to take forward the tree plantation campaign as a mass movement. As the massive tree plantation drive is going to start, a detailed program should be prepared in this regard to make this campaign a big success.”
ACS, department of environment, forest and climate change, Manoj Singh said, “In the last few years, the state government has worked tirelessly to increase the green cover in Uttar Pradesh. There are a total of over 58,000 villages in Uttar Pradesh. The government plants to plant over 43.5 lakh saplings in a day on August 15.”
Efforts are being made by the forest department to increase the green cover in the state which will help in pollution control, he added.
According to the State of Forest Report 2021, 9.23 percent of the total geographical area of Uttar Pradesh has forest cover. In 2013 it was 8.82 percent. There has been an increase of 91 square kilometres in the total forest cover and tree cover during 2019.
The government has now set a target of further enhancing this area to 15 percent by 2030. For this, the government will plant 175 crore saplings in the next five years. And for this, the Yogi government has been doing intensive plantation during the rainy season since its first tenure. As a result, 101.49 crore saplings have been planted with the efforts of the government between 2017-18 and 2021-2022.
Indigenous plants like Banyan, Peepal, Pakad, Neem, Bael, Amla, Mango, Jackfruit, and Drumstick will get preference during the plantation drive. The intention of the government is that the plantation during the rainy season should be according to the agro-climatic zone of the area concerned.
The nodal agency for plantation is the Forest Department. But apart from the forest department, 26 other departments will participate in the grand campaign of the plantation. The target of each department is already set. In this respect, the highest target of 12.60 crores and 12.32 crore is for Forest and Rural Development Department respectively. Apart from this, the target of the Agriculture Department and Horticulture Department is 2.35 crore and 1.55 crore saplings respectively.
Environment fighters will play an important role in making this campaign a success. Farmers and beneficiaries of Prime Minister's award in the environment, empowered force, women, disabled, low-income group, visually impaired, MGNREGA job cardholder, self-help group, village level and city development worker, forest worker, tribal-forest, Chief Minister Abhyudaya Yojana beneficiaries, teacher-students, and women will also be involved in the plantation process.
