This July 29, the State will witness never before vanam manam programme with the government making arrangements to plant one crore saplings in a day.
The government has ambitious plans to create a record with this feat. The government also wants to increase the green cover by 50 per cent with this initiative and make the State as ‘Harita Andhra Pradesh’, according to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
At a teleconference here on Monday, he said, “I urge 5 crore people of the State to be partners of the initiative.” The business community and NGOs need to take the lead in this endeavour. They can support the programme by donating the tree guards to protect saplings and young plants from the wind. The NGOs can also take up construction of ‘soak pits’ in villages and towns.
The soak pits would help increase groundwater levels, he said.
To protect green cover, the government proposes to introduce measures like bio-fencing and geo-tagging. The team leaders would monitor plant growth on a regular basis, he said.
Stressing on the need for proper utilization of material component funds of Rs. 635 crore granted to take up CC road construction, Panta Sanjeevani, and Neeru Chetu, Mr. Naidu asserted that the works under ‘Neeru Chettu’ programme should pick up pace. A suitable action plan should be drafted to utilise Rs. 8,000 crore sanctioned under the NREGA. The works such as tree plantation, ‘Panta Sanjeevani’ and construction of CC roads should go on without any pause, he said.
Stress on coordination
Explaining the chain metaphor, Mr. Naidu said slightest break in the chain would affect the whole administration and will bring the system to a standstill. For this, a proper coordination from village administration to the departments concerned was required. Set up districts’ and departments’ dashboards to monitor their performances and to get real-time updates, he said.
The teleconference was attended by 4,600 officials, public representatives, and other officials.
I appeal to five crore people of the State to be partners of the programme.
N. Chandrababu Naidu
Chief Minister
