E-Paper
Plan to plant 41 lakh saplings a non-starter
THE GOVERNMENT departments and the NGOs have not made any efforts to plant 41 lakh saplings in the city and in ten blocks of the district during the current financial year. The plantation was to be done under the Green Belt scheme introduced by the State Government.
THE GOVERNMENT departments and the NGOs have not made any efforts to plant 41 lakh saplings in the city and in ten blocks of the district during the current financial year. The plantation was to be done under the Green Belt scheme introduced by the State Government.
According to sources, the government fixed the targets for all the departments which had to launch the scheme from April this year. However, the officials of various departments decided to launch the plantation drive from July as the rainy season was the best for planting saplings.
The prime time for plantation during July ended on Monday and barring the Forest Department, none of the other departments planted even a single tree during the past one month. The government had directed about departments to join the plantation drive and had fixed the target of planting about 14 lakh plants.
The Kanpur Development Authority has to plant 67,000 saplings, the Kanpur Municipal Corporation 46,000 while the Soil Conservation Department has to plant 45,000 saplings. The Kanpur Electricity Supply Company was asked to plant 6,000 saplings.
The Kalyanpur Block was asked to plant 65,000 saplings, Bilhaur 2,37,000 Shivrajpur 2,25,000, Sarsaul to 2,22,000, Ghatampur 2,09,000, Patara 1,33,000 ,Chaubepur 1,05,000 Kakvan 97,000, Bidhnu 76,000 and Bhitargaon 74,000 saplings.
According to DFO Avani Kumar, none of the government department or the authorities at the block level have informed about the launching of plantation drive in their respective areas. He said that in Ghatampur, Sarsaul and Bilhaur the plantation drive was to be carried out over the 900 hundred acres of land earmarked by the government. He said that he had issued notices to the officials concerned at the Blocks to expedite the plantation drive.
Authorities in most departments told HT that owing to staff shortage and delay in allotment of land, the drive could not be launched.
They said that they had very little staff and if the existing staff were used for the plantation drive, they would not be able to dispose of the routine work.
