Maharashtra will see 3,11,66,057 seedlings being planted with peoples' participation, surpassing the earlier target of 2 crore trees.
To take the forest area in the state to 33% up from current 20.01%, the state government has chalked out an ambitious plan to plant 3.11 crore seedlings in Maharashtra on July 1. However, space-starved Mumbai city and the suburbs will see a minimal share in the plantation drive.
Maharashtra will see 3,11,66,057 seedlings being planted with peoples' participation, surpassing the earlier target of 2 crore trees.
Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who is also the state's forest minister, said they planned to plant 50 crore trees in the next three years including over 3 crore this year, 3 crore next year, 10 crore in 2018 and 25 crore in 2019. In addition, 12.27 crore trees will be planted in gram panchayat areas.
He added that to take the forest cover to 33% as envisaged in the National Forest Police, 1988, the state needed to plant 400 crore trees on 40,000 sq km to take the forest area to around 1 lakh sq km of the total geographical area of over 3.07 lakh sq km. Thus, plantations will also have to be undertaken non-forest areas.
On July 1, governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mungantiwar and celebrities will plant trees at the Mahim nature park. However, Mumbai city and the suburbs, which suffer from a space crunch, and lack of adequate open spaces will see just 8,054 and 15,596 seedlings being planted respectively by the forest department and other entities like NGOs. This covers just 0.03% and 0.05% of the plantation drive at 146 sites.
The highest tree plantation will happen in Nashik (9.71%), followed by Pune (6.90%) and Ahmednagar (6.84%). Even neighboring Thane will see trees being planted on 1,136 sites with 10,39,984 seedlings being planted covering 3.34% of the saplings to be planted in the state. A total of 147 varieties of trees will be planted.
The state will adopt the "Bihar pattern" wherein one family will be appointed to take care of 1,000 planted trees. Plans have been chalked out for drought-hit Marathwada with the Eco Battalions of the Indian Army.
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