The Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, Utpal Kumar Singh reviewed the preparation of the mega drive to plant 1.5 lakh saplings in one day along Rispana River at State secretariat on Friday.
In the meeting, the CS said that participation of local people in the drive should be ensured along with the personnel of forest department, Eco-Task Force and Irrigation Department. He suggested that the help of various social organisations, NGOs and students should also be taken in the mission. The CS was informed in the meeting that the area of river Rispana has been divided into blocks from its head to tail for the drive. To facilitate the work further sub-blocks have also been identified. The officers also said that the task of cleaning the river has been started and work of clearing the bushes has begun for digging pits for planting saplings. The CS was told that the work plans have been prepared for planting saplings in an area of about 75 acres. The forest department and Eco-Task force have been asked to provide 1.5 lakh saplings.
The CS gave instructions to plant at least 50 thousand fruit plants along the River said that wild animals can get fruit to eat. The idea behind planting fruit bearing trees to prevent human- wildlife conflict. As per the plan saplings of mango, Bel, Indian Goose berry (Anwla) and Jamun would be planted along the River.
In an ambitious plan the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government has undertaken a mega drive to plant 1.5 Lakh along the river Rispana on a single day in month of July. The digging of pits for planting saplings will start from May 5. The mega plantation drive will start from Shikhar Fall, the source of Rispana River located some distance from the Rajpur area.
The meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary Irrigation, Anand Bardhan, Secretary Drinking Water, Arvind Singh Hyanki, District Magistrate of Dehradun, S A Murugeshan, Dehradun Municipal Commissioner Vijay Jogdande, Vice Chairman of the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), Ashish Shrivastava, Forest Conservator P K Patro, officers of Eco Taskforce and Abhijay Negi of Making A Difference by being the difference (MAD).