The district administration has proposed to plant 50 lakh saplings across the district this year with active public participation.
Anurag Tewari, Deputy Commissioner, in a meeting with officials on Friday, said that the drought had taught two important lessons – the need for water conservation and afforestation.
He said work on cleaning and reusing traditional water bodies, such as open wells, tanks and temple kalyanis was taken up vigorously. “We hope to achieve the same level of success in the plantation project,” he said.
As per the plan, each of the four lakh families in the district will be given five saplings that are fruit bearing, flower bearing or vegetables of plantation variety, such as drum stick. The families will be in-charge of protecting and watering them for the first three years.
Seedlings will also be planted in schools and colleges and students will be asked to adopt at least two trees on the campus. All government offices, panchayat raj institutions, hospitals and government aided institutions will plant the saplings, apart from non-governmental organisations, cooperative and private institutions. Temples, dargahs, churches, gurudwaras and other places of worship will also be encouraged to participate.
Planting will be taken up on priority in the 200-odd parks in Bidar and other cities. The bunds of all tanks and lakes, and areas near open wells will be covered in the tree plantation drive. Planting of saplings in empty spaces in industrial areas and stone quarries will be closely monitored.
Resident welfare associations and leaders of various groups will be made members of monitoring committees to look after the trees. A government officer will be a coordinator of the committee. Each tree will be given a code that will be monitored by the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
Tall seedlings will be planted on the both sides of the national highway that runs for nearly 80 km in the district. Companies, contractors and other agencies involved in road building will be asked to contribute to the project, he said. Varieties, like neem and pongamia, that do not need additional protection like tree guards will be preferred for road side plantation.
Forest department will plant nearly 20 lakh trees in the nearly four lakh hectares of unclassified forest and non-cultivated land in the district. The zilla panchayat will plant five lakh trees. Some private companies have agreed to plant or support the plantation of 25 lakh saplings, Mr. Tewari said.
Pavan Kumar Malpati, zilla panchayat chief executive officer; Balbhim Kamble, project director, district urban development cell; B. Basappa, city municipal council commissioner; Kishor Joshi, assistant director of tourism and forest officials were present.
