Teak plantation in high demand across Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: Teak (sagaun) has pipped all tree species in the microplans prepared by the forest department to assess demand at the level of gram panchayat and urban local bodies.

While demand for teak is 36%, the other two popular timber varieties are eucalyptus (26%) and sheesham (20%).

UP will plant 25 crore saplings this year with at least 90% getting planted in July itself under ‘Vriksha Mahakumbh’, the state’s annual plantation exercise.

The forest department has raised at least 44 crore saplings in 1,762 state nurseries. The department has made 57,904 microplans for plantation in over 60,000 gram panchayats and 800 urban local bodies.

Microplans are the records on plantation sites, number of plants required at every site, people who have demanded saplings, total demand for different tree species and those who would monitor plantation at every site.

In addition to timber varieties, fruit bearing trees have received 15% demand. “We are also emphasizing on plantation of ‘sahjan,” said mission director, plantation, Mukesh Kumar .

“There is a demand for 50 lakh sahjan trees. “But we have raised at least 1.2 crore as the CM has also highlighted its importance,” said the official. Sahjan can contain malnutrition as it has a high nutritive and medicinal value.

There is a demand for 16 lakh ‘khair’ trees, a timber variety used to make ‘kattha’. Prayagraj will get the maximum, about 51.7 lakh trees, in the plantation drive this year followed by Jhansi where over 49.7 lakh trees will be planted and Gorakhpur which will be made greener by about 38.3 lakh trees.

More than 26 lakh trees will be planted in Lucknow.