Punjab to plant over one crore saplings this monsoon

June 27th, 2011 - 10:51 pm ICT by IANS  

Chandigarh, June 27 (IANS) In a bid to substantially increase its forest cover, the Punjab government has decided to pursue a massive tree plantation drive during this monsoon season to plant 1.14 crore (11.4 million) saplings across the state.

“Saplings have already been prepared, for plantation, in various nurseries of the forest department. We have also issued the necessary instructions to the authorities concerned to plant the saplings in the ongoing monsoon season,” said Forest and Wildlife Minister Arunesh Shakir here Monday.

“The Punjab government has introduced several initiatives to expand the area under forest cover and this is the part of that initiative. Out of the 1.14 crore saplings, 67 lakh saplings would be planted by the forest department while 47 lakh saplings would be planted through farmers. Currently 5.02 percent area of Punjab is under the forest and we have set a target to increase it to 15 per cent by 2020,” he added.

Shakir said that the employees of forest department would regularly visit the areas where saplings would be planted to inspect their status.

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