After Uttarakhand glacier burst, plantation drive conducted in J-K's Udhampur

Plantation drive was conducted to spread awareness among the people on the issue of deforestation and soil erosion.

Drawing lessons from the recent Uttarakhand glacier burst incident, a plantation drive was conducted at Prowa Jagir watershed area in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur by the Integrated Water Management Programme (IWMP) to encourage plantation of trees and prevention of soil erosion.

Students planting trees as a part of Mega Plantation drive by the Ministry of Forest and Wildlife, Government of Delhi, at Issapur Forest, in New Delhi.(Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

This drive was conducted on Sunday to avert Uttarakhand-like tragedy and control soil erosion taking place in the hilly areas. Under the drive, IWMP officials interacted with the locals and distributed mulberry and horticulture plants.

Sapna Kotwal project manager, IWMP Udhampur said that plantation drive was conducted to spread awareness among the people on the issue of deforestation and soil erosion.

"Today we had a plantation drive for Prowa Jagir. Earlier, also we had a similar drive where we created ponds in association with MGNREGA. This is a very dry prone area. This area is heading towards soil erosion due to deforestation. While the plantation drive, we are spreading awareness among the people as this will also help with job creation and employment," Kotwal told ANI.

Sandook Singh, one of the locals who participated in the drive said that by planting trees they will be able to save groundwater.

"We are doing a very fine job regarding integrated water management. Ponds are being made and trees are being planted. In the time to come, this drive will prove to be very useful. This is a hill area, by planting trees we will be able to save groundwater and prevent soil erosion," said Singh.

Reiterating what Sapna Kotwal said, another participant stressed that the villages are trying to avert Uttarakhand-like disaster.

"In the forest area, we have planted 3,500 trees. We have seen how in Uttarakhand the landslides is taking place due to soil erosion. So we are trying to prevent that. We want the level of oxygen to increase along with the level of groundwater," said one of the participants.