Haryana’s green drive: planting 5 crore saplings

CHANDIGARH - Haryana is all set for a major afforestation drive with plans to plant five crore sapling this year to enhance the state’s green cover, officials said here Friday.

“Climate change is the biggest threat to mother earth and combating them as well as preserving the eco-system is the responsibility of every one of us. Therefore, we have decided to plant five crore saplings this year to maintain the eco-balance in the state,” Haryana Forest Minister Ajay Yadav said in a statement.

“Felling of trees would have to be stopped to maintain the ecological balance. People should also stop using polythene bags and should not pollute environment by littering or burning their domestic waste,” he added.

Besides, Haryana’s Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) has also decided to plant over 12 lakh indigenous varieties of trees like shisham, peepal, neem, arjun and kadam over an area of 2,000 hectares in the coming months.

State Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati said: “The central government has released CAMPA funds of Rs.19.11 crore for compensatory afforestation and conservation management of existing natural forests and wildlife sanctuaries in the state. The released amount is only 10 percent of the total funds deposited with union government by Haryana forest department.”

“We have also approved the action plan to strengthen the wildlife infrastructure by incurring an amount of Rs.1 crore. Thrust will be given to create water bodies in national parks and sanctuaries for protection of wildlife and their habitat. A sum of Rs.1.60 crore would be spent for this purpose,” Gulati added.