On Thursday, Yogendra Mahant claimed he and Computer Baba had thought there was a scam because reports about plantation were not received from some areas. (In picture: Computer baba)
Computer Baba and Yogendra Mahant, two of the five Hindu religious leaders granted Minister of State status in Madhya Pradesh, had threatened to expose the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government’s claim about planting more than six crore saplings along the Narmada in a single day and its failure to stop illegal sand mining and cow slaughter.
While the allegations about sand mining and cow slaughter are not new, it was the threatened expose about the record tree plantation on July 2, 2017, that caught attention because the state government is eyeing a Guinness record.
The two had announced they would lead “Narmada Ghotala Yatra’’ between April 1 and May 15 and issued a video message warning to expose scams like “planting six crore saplings on paper and fooling the society in the name of conservation”. What was to be the “biggest statewide agitation” did not take off because the government set up a committee for river conservation, with these five as members and according them MoS status.
On Thursday, Mahant claimed he and Computer Baba had thought there was a scam because reports about plantation were not received from some areas. “We will visit these places and plant saplings again if required and make arrangements to water and fence them so that they survive. When the government has been so proactive, we should do our bit,’’ he said about his turnabout. He said he and Computer Baba were satisfied that illegal mining was not taking place because the government has changed the system.
Activist Vinayak Parihar alleged that an audit of the plantation has proved that not even one crore saplings have survived because the plantation was carried out hurriedly with an eye on the record. He said only saplings planted by trained forest staff and being regularly watered have survived, not those planted on farms or on the riverbank.
Parihar said at many places only boards about plantation are visible and farmers were tilling the land where saplings were planted. Referring to Assembly questions and answers, the activist said the government did not detail the total spend on the plantation, the source of the saplings and how many have survived. He said the government routed the money through departments like agriculture & horticulture and district panchayats, and under heads like MNREGA in an attempt to avoid coming clean on expenses.
READ | Computer Baba to Mahant: Get MoS status from Shivraj Singh Chouhan, call off scam protest
The bid to enter the record books has been delayed because Guinness authorities have sought video proof for each of the 1.2 lakh plantation sites, a demand the government has found difficult to meet.
Additional chief secretary (forest) Deepak Khandekar said the plantation took place in July, the first field inspection was done in October and second was due next month. He said the government has given all details to the National Green Tribunal after getting a notice. About the video proof sought, he said the government has provided footage available. “We can’t provide footage that we don’t have,’’ he said, putting down the confusion to a communication gap. He suggested that the condition about providing video proof had not been conveyed before.
Denying the other allegations, the senior officer said no other agency or court has asked for details and no complaint has been received by the government. “We have provided all details to NGT. We can’t respond to queries doing rounds on WhatsApp,” he said.