UP readies to sow a greener future with 25 crore saplings

LUCKNOW: The state has geared up for a unique plantation drive during the Covid times. Though the date of the plantation drive has not been finalised in all probability the mega exercise to plant 25 crore saplings would be undertaken on July 5.
Preparations are in full swing and close to 4.5 crore saplings have already been transported to plantation sites. However, this time there would be no public gatherings and the plantation drive would be launched with full Covid norms.
“Acting on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's directives ‘do gaj ki doori, mask zaroori’ would be ensured during the exercise,” said mission director, plantation, Mukesh Kumar.To make the plantation drive a success, district-level committees, headed by DMs, have been constituted, he said and added that the “state is eyeing another record this time which is planting over 150 tree species at two to three sites in theLucknow division.”
In all, 8.7lakh plantation sites and about 30 crore trees are ready and are being geo-tagged. Beneficiaries of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna will be given five saplings each. Beneficiaries of other Central schemes, including PMAY, Saubhagya, Ujjwala and SBM, will be given one 'sahjan’ sapling each.
Besides, over 2.2 crore trees would be planted on the banks of Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti, Rapti, Ghaghra, Saryu, Sharda, Tamsa,Varuna, Betwa and other rivers.
Maximum trees, more than 67 lakh, would be planted on the Ganga banks in 27 districts. Plantation would be done up to 10kms on both the banks of the river, covering an area of about 20,000 hectare.
Prayagraj will get a maximum 51.7 lakh trees, followed by Jhansi where over 49.7 lakh trees will be planted. Over 38 lakh trees would be planted in Gorakhpur and over 26 lakh trees in Lucknow.
The forest department has raised at least 44 crore saplings in 1,762 state nurseries. The state forest department has also finalised 57,904 microplans for 60,000 gram panchayats and 800 urban local bodies.
Out of the total demand assessed by the department for different tree varieties demand for teak is 36% which is the highest. The other two timber varieties that are popular choices are eucalyptus (26%) and sheesham (20%).
In addition to timber varieties, fruit bearing trees have received 15% demand and demand has also been raised for about 55 lakh ‘sahjan' trees.