Plan to give saplings to farmers, students to ensure nurturing

Varanasi: Before the annual mega plantation drive begins on Jul 1, with a target of planting 16.97 lakh saplings in the district during monsoon, all departments have been asked to focus on finalising strategy for post-plantation survival. One of the major components of this strategy will be providing saplings of fruit trees to farmers and students to encourage them to plant and nurture the saplings on their land.

While discussing plans for success of the proposed plantation drive with officials of all departments concerned at a meeting on Wednesday, district magistrate Satyendra Kumar assigned the task to district plantation committee, district environment committee and district Ganga committee to keep focus on ensuring post-plantation survival, as it will serve the actual purpose of the drive. After divisional forest officer Swati informed the DM that the department's nursery currently has more than 30 lakh saplings against the district target of planting 19,97,520 saplings under Plantation Drive 2025 in monsoon of 2025, the DM instructed all departments to provide at the earliest their sapling demand letters according to their respective targets to the forest department office. The selection of species to be planted must be included in the sapling demand letter.

"As we go among people with an appeal to plant a tree in the name of mother, every govt employee in the district must plant at least one sapling," said the DM, adding that all students in primary and secondary education should plant one fruit-bearing sapling at their homes.

He instructed that along with community plantation, farmers should be individually given fruit-bearing saplings to encourage personal tree planting to ensure survival of a greater number of trees.

Chief development officer Himanshu Nagpal and other departmental officials were present at the meeting.