Haryana: In a first, drone used for aerial seeding under tree plantation drive in Yamunanagar

YAMUNANAGAR: In a first, to tackle the problem of inaccessibility in some remote and hilly areas of Shivalik Hills, the forest department, Haryana has used a drone for aerial seeding of various medicinal and fruit-bearing trees under its tree plantation drive during this monsoon season in Jhanda village of Sadhaura block on Yamunanagar district on Friday.
Haryana education, forest, and tourism minister Kanwar Pal, Haryana principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) Amarinder Kaur and additional PCCF (administration) Vinod Kumar visited the area, where they planted some trees and also flagged off the drone for aerial seeding in the vacant forest area.
The officials also inaugurated a Covid Vatika in the gallery of Shiv Temple in Jhanda village.
In another event, the minister and PCCF also initiated a tree plantation drive of about 13,500 plants in about 12.5 hectares forest land of Sadhaura city forest on Tibri village road said Yamunanagar district forest officer (DFO) (territorial) Suraj Bhan.
The officials said, seeds are of trees including amla (phyllantus emblica), sohanjna (moringa oliefera), harar (Terminalia chebula), baheda (Terminalia bellirica), khair (senegalia catechu), amaltas (golden shower), bael patra (aegle marmelos), pilkhan (ficus virens), sheesham (dalbergia sissoo), jamun (java plum), kachnar (bauhinia variegata), neem (azadirachta indica), imli (tamarind), banyan, and many others.
Minister Kanwar said, “The aerial seeding is the best way to initiate a plantation drive in inaccessible areas and we are using drone technology as a drone has been specially-designed by information technology (IT) students. The monsoon time is best for planting trees and vacant spaces of forest land are being identified. This is surely going to increase the green cover of the state. To increase the forestry sector, each city should have its own forest to make the environment clean and to provide shelter to animals and birds.”
“We have identified about 552 hectares land of the degraded jungle which is lying vacant in three villages of Sadhaura area including Jhanda, Pammuwala, and Thaska. Forest minister Kanwar Pal and PCCF Amarinder Kaur on Friday flagged-off aerial seeding with the help of a drone, as the concerned land is difficult to reach. The aerial seeding will continue for the next few days too”, said DFO Suraj.
Haryana PCCF Amarinder Kaur said, “In the times of Covid-19 pandemic, we have understood that we can protect ourselves by staying connected to nature. In view of this, Covid Vatika are being established all over the state and several medicinal trees and plants are being planted. In the border area of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, we are using an aerial seeding technique to cover the vacant areas which are inaccessible. About 13,500 saplings have been planted at Tibbi village.”
“Similar aerial seeding technique will be used in some hilly and remote areas of Panchkula, Raipur Rani, Aravali Hills in Mahendergarh and Barhkhal lake area. This is going to benefit the future generation by keeping the environment clean”, said PCCF Amarinder.