Under Nadi Mahotsav 8.25 lakh trees to be planted across river banks in 24 districts: PCCF

Ranchi/(UNI): Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das will be starting the 70th ‘Nadi Mahotsav’ by planting trees on the banks of Jumar river in Bodeya and during the plantation drive which will continue till August 6 a total of 8.25 lakh trees will be planted at the banks of 44 rivers spread across 24 districts of the state.

Addressing a press conference PCCF (Principal Chief Conservator of Forests) Dr Sanjay Kumar today said that last year during this function at 130 kilometers of river banks a target to plant 9 lakh trees had been set and as part of plantation drive at the origin points of the river plantation will be done on 1775 hectares of land as advance work. He said that water, land and forest conservation was the need of the hour and pointed out that findings of the Indian Forest Survey Report according to which between 2005-2015 the water area has increased 64 square kilometers.

He said that in the probe which was conducted on 203 water conservation areas it was found that the quality of water on 83 locations was more than drinking water and the remaining also were fit for human consumption. He said that this year’s campaign is dedicated to the Jal Shakti Abhyiaan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and would be held in all the blocks. He said that now the special focus has been accorded on natural forests and on increasing the forest produce.

Dr Sanjay Kumar said that there are 92 permanent nurseries in the state out of which 12 are high tech from were any person at payment of Rs 5 can get small plant and at Rs 15 can get a big plant. He said that the entire information is being loaded on the website so that people can now as to which plant is available in a particular location and from next year people will be also able to file their applications for demanding any special types of plants.

He said that under /Mukhyamantri Jan Van Yojana the subsidy has been increased from 50 per cent to 75 per cent and this year also a target has been set to undertake plantation on 2500 acres of land.