YAMUNANAGAR: Haryana forest minister Kanwar Pal said that this year the government has planned to plant 3 crore saplings of trees in 2,200 villages of the state.
Kanwar inspected different projects of the Haryana forest and wildlife department in Yamunanagar district on Friday, and said that a total of 17 lakh saplings will be planted in 176 villages of the district.
Last year, the government had planted about 1.5 crore saplings in 1,100 villages, he said.
Kanwar said that with the motive to increase green cover of Haryana, the trees of different medicinal and fruit-bearing species are being planted in villages as well as along the highways and roads.
“I am satisfied with the working of the forest department as about 90% of the saplings planted during the session of 2020-21 have survived and this year for 2021-22, we have doubled the target. A total of about 3 crore saplings of different trees will be planted in 2,200 villages of Haryana. Last year, we had planted 1.5 crore saplings in 1,100 villages”, said minister Kanwar Pal.
During his visit, the minister inspected the plantation along the national highway (NH) 344 and then the forest areas in Chhachhrauli, Bahadurpur, Darpur and Jatonwala villages.
Kanwar also visited Shahjadwala village, where an orchard of grafted and country mango, apricot, lemon, guava, harad (termimalia chebula), and jamun (java plum) was planted in about 15 hectares of the panchayat land.
About the orchard, Kanwar said, “In last nine months, the progress of fruit-bearing trees at Shahjadwala village has been over 90% and this project is going to be a success. All the trees look very healthy. The forest department has set-up two tube-wells to irrigate these trees. Such projects are going to increase the revenue of panchayats in the coming years and till will also maintain the green cover for a long time as the life of fruit trees is long.”
Kanwar said that we have also planned a scheme to provide the farmers with subsidized saplings of poplar trees in Yamunanagar district, as it is a hub of the plywood industry and the farmers are also showing interest in the same.
Yamunanagar district forest officer Suraj Bhan said, “In the coming days of monsoon in the month of July, saplings of trees will be planted in about 176 villages of Yamunanagar district. We are prepared with the saplings of seesam (dalbergia sisso), jamun, kusum (schleichera), jamoa, mango, toon (toona ciliata), arjan (terminalia arjuna), baheda (terminalia bellirica), bael pathar, harad, amla (phyllanthus emblica) trees.”