The State government is contemplating aerial seeding from the beginning of the monsoon season to December end, according to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The Chief Minister took part in the Environment Day celebrations at the Gollapudi Market Yard near here on Sunday.
He planted saplings along with 1,000 school children to mark the occasion.
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Mr. Naidu said aerial seeding would increase green cover. As much as 1,000 to 1,500 metric tons of seeds would be used for that in forests. Check dams and trenches would be constructed to conserve rain water. Aerial seeding is a technique of sowing seeds using helicopters and aeroplanes to scatter them. Aerial reforestation, usually done to repopulate forest land, gained currency after some disaster in the 1930s. Mr. Naidu said the government had set a target of planting saplings in every district every month.
As many as 15 crore saplings would be grown in nurseries. Every sapling that was planted would be geo-tagged. It was aimed at ensuring that all saplings that were planted were protected and necessary precautions for its growth were taken, he said.
Urging the people to take up plantation on a war-footing, the Chief Minister said sapling plantation could be taken up on special occasions like birthdays, wedding days and on other occasions. Focus should be on nurturing them not just planting them.
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Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said the government launched desilting works in 40,000 tanks across the State. The government spent Rs. 2,000 crore to desilt 185 crore cubic metres of soil. The farmers were using it in their fields, he said.