MCG to sign agreements with NGOs and RWAs conducting plantation drives

To prevent poorly implemented plantation drives, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has decided to sign binding agreements with NGOs and residents’ welfare associations(RWAs), which procure saplings from its four nurseries in the city

To prevent poorly implemented plantation drives, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has decided to sign binding agreements with NGOs and residents’ welfare associations(RWAs), which procure saplings from its four nurseries in the city. Officials in the MCG’s horticulture department said that a formal memorandum of understanding (MoU), which will be made mandatory during the upcoming monsoon season, will ensure the survival of saplings by holding third parties responsible for the same for a period of three years.

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Devendra Bhadana, executive engineer (horticulture), MCG, said, “Every year, several hundred NGOs and RWAs approach us to give them saplings for monsoon plantation. Over the years, these drives have seen little success. People plant saplings and then forget about it. We have decided that, going forward, groups which take saplings from us in bulk will have to sign an MoU first. This will make them responsible for maintaining the saplings for three years.” Bhadana also added that any group found to be violating these terms of agreement may be debarred from procuring saplings in subsequent years.

Officials also said that formalising these transactions would help in surveying plantation work during post-monsoon months. “Right now, this is quite hard because there is no proper record of who has got how many saplings, or where they are planted. We distribute saplings widely because the aim is to plant as much as possible, but we cannot afford any more wastage. We have to become stricter,” said another executive engineer in the MCG’s horticulture department, seeking anonymity.

These persisting issues were also identified in a recent audit of plantation drives conducted by the district administration’s Gurujal society, which is responsible for implementing the Centre’s Jal Shakti Abhiyan in Gurugram. A key component of the scheme, in addition to increasing groundwater security, is afforestation. Gurujal’s audit notes that there were multiple loopholes in the MCG’s plantation drives last year, in which a total of 60,800 saplings were planted across the city.

These loopholes include “multiple registrations from single RWA”, “non-availability of a proper record of plant distribution” and “no limitation on plant distribution to single entity,” among others, as per Gurujal’s audit report.

“Due to these issues, we have only been able to conduct post-plantation surveys for about 17,000 saplings, which were planted by RWAs, where the plants were also geo-tagged. Among these, we found that nearly 87 percent of the saplings survived,” said a spokesperson for Gurujal. Shubhi Kesarwani, programme manager, could not be reached for comment as she is presently overseas.

For the remaining 44,000 odd saplings which were distributed to RWAs and NGOs last year, MCG officials said they are yet to conduct a survey to ascertain the survival rate. “We may not be able to carry it out because of lack of data and records. During the next season though, all saplings will be geo-tagged. The Gurujal team will be monitoring the entire process as well,” said Bhadana.