Green revolution: Thane district surpasses plantation target

02nd August, 2018

THANE: With an outstanding 35.7 lakh successful tree plantations across the district in the span of a month, Thane district has not only achieved its target, but surpassed it manifold in the state wide 13 crore mega tree plantation drive, which ended on Tuesday

As part of this three-year-old annual afforestation campaign, which aims to increase the state’s green cover by 13 crore trees this year, the district was given a target of 33,52,370 plantations to be carried out during the one-month span from July 1 to July 31.

“We had received a target of 33 lakh, but had a feeling that we would surpass it because of the overwhelming response. While a little over 30.7 lakh of these plantations were pre-registered on our website, the remaining were added to the total after the citizens submitted the geo-tagged details of the unregistered plantations they had undertaken in their areas. This digital process ensures no dual counting,” said Dr Jitendra Ramgaokar, deputy chief conservator of forests (Thane).

While the drive is now through, officials have already started chalking out their plan to maintain this added green cover and are urging citizens who have participated in the drive to look after their saplings regularly.

“A large chunk of the seedlings and saplings planted by the forest department has been conducted in green zones and forest areas. We have chalked out a five-year plan for their maintenance so far and hope that other government office departments and organisations do so as well,” added Dr Ramgaokar.

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com