Haryana: Foresters use drones to disperse seeds in Aravalis

GURUGRAM: The forest department on Friday dispersed seeds in a 45-hectare area of the Aravalis in Mahedragarh, using drones. This is part of the department’s plan to increase the forest cover in the state. Seeds of native species such as Khairi, Ronjh, Beri and Inderjo were used for the afforestation project.
Haryana has less than 4% of the country’s forest cover. The initiative was inaugurated by minister of state OP Yadav.
Three areas of Mahendragarh — Nain, Madhogard and Pulwa — were included in the plan. The forest department is also planning a similar drive in Bhadkal. The total cost of the project is Rs 1.92 lakh. “As many areas of the Aravali hills are tough to be reached on foot by forest officials for plantation, this method has been adopted.
According to a forest department study, the area has been selected for this project as the depth of soil is low, which is around 5 to 6 inches, and thus with low level of rainfall it is a difficult area for plantation. The district has been receiving an average of 40 cm annual rainfall for the past 10 years, which made it suitable for this project. Haryana only sees 10-12 rainy days, and thus is a difficult terrain for plantation, officials of the forest department pointed out.
A forest official said, “As Haryana is getting monsoon already, we took this opportunity to start the aerial seeding process. This technique also saves on time and thus can be done away with the effort of ploughing the land.”