All vacant government land in cities to have green cover: CM Hemant Soren

RANCHI: Chief minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday said he has directed the state department of forests, environment and wildlife to ensure that saplings are planted in all vacant government land in urban areas of the state.
Speaking at the launch of the 72nd Van Mahotsav in Gandhi Gram near Getalsud Dam in Angara block of Ranchi district, Soren said nearly 1 lakh saplings will be planted in Ranchi alone.
“The forest department aims to plant over 1.5 crore saplings across Jharkhand during the monsoon season this year. While coming to this event, I directed all the officials of the department to ensure that saplings are planted in all vacant lands in the urban areas that are owned by the government,” Soren said.
Stating that urban afforestation is the only way forward, Soren also called upon the residents to actively engage in plantation drives.
“Plantations need to be taken up actively in the rural areas of the state. Although there are several plantation programmes which are run by the forest department and the state horticulture mission from time to time, most exist only in paper,” Soren said.
“The department now will have to distribute saplings of fruit-bearing trees in rural areas periodically with the help of local legislators, village mukhiyas and locals. The coverage of Mukhyamantri Jan Van Yojana needs to be increased,” he added.
Notably, the scheme entails up to 75% financial subsidy by the state government if a beneficiary aims to plant fruit-bearing trees on their land for livelihood generation.
Speaking at the event, principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) P K Verma said the department aims to plant 1.7 crore saplings statewide during the monsoon. “The importance of this particular exercise can be gauged from the fact that Jharkhand’s forest cover has increased by 1,625 square kilometre in the past 20 years,” Verma said.