To meet high demand, plantation target revised to 15 lakh saplings

Ludhiana, July 6

To meet the high demand of saplings in Ludhiana, the Forests Department has enhanced the target of plantation from 11 to 15 lakh saplings in the district during the current monsoon season.

Against the proposed demand of 3.5 lakh saplings by the government departments, the forest officials have received the demand of 8.58 lakh saplings, of which they have supplied over 3 lakh saplings so far.

These saplings were being given free of cost to the government departments while the public can purchase them at nominal price.

To meet the high demand, the department said they have sufficient quantity of 19 lakh saplings of native species such as Jamun, Arjun and Neem across 24 nurseries in the Ludhiana circle.

Meanwhile, the Financial Commissioner (Forests) Krishan Kumar reviewed the ongoing plantation drive in Ludhiana and issued directions to the officials to ensure the proper plantation and upkeep of the saplings for the sake of future generations here on Saturday.

The officials from Rural Development and Panchayats, Education, Revenue departments, Municipal Corporation, PAU and others detailed the Financial Commissioner (Forests) about the ongoing mass plantation drive under the ‘Wake Up Ludhiana’ mission. Financial Commissioner (Forests) Krishan Kumar disclosed the plantation target for Punjab was 1.78-crore saplings this monsoon.

ADC (Rural Development) Anmol Singh Dhaliwal spoke about the ‘Wake Up Ludhiana’ mission and stated that 30 Nanak Bagichis were also being developed where 500 saplings will be planted on one acre of land.

Further, the saplings were being planted on the panchayat lands, around village ponds, along roadsides, and on the premises of educational institutions, healthcare centres and other departmental vacant lands.

For awareness on environment sustainability, Dhaliwal added that the district administration had also launched a photography competition called ‘Capture Ludhiana: Moments of Green’ on June 15 to raise awareness about environmental conservation among citizens.

The participants were asked to send their entries for the competition event by email to wakeupludhiana365@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Wake up Ludhiana photography competition’. The deadline for submitting entries is July 15. Certificates and cash prizes will be awarded to the top three winners by the DC.

In addition, a ‘Green Hackathon’ has also been started in which the residents have to identify environmental issues in their localities and propose effective measures to address them.