Aiming to increase the state’s green cover to 15 percent by 2027, the Uttar Pradesh government 2.0 will plant 350 million saplings in the current financial year 2023-24.
According to official figures, over 1.30 billion saplings have been planted in UP over the last six years.
Recently, chief minister Yogi Adityanath reviewed the preparation for ‘Van Mahotsav-2023’ which will be transformed into a mass movement for optimum benefit.
With a modest start of planting nearly 57.2 million saplings in 2017-18, the UP government doubled the quantum to 110 million in 2018-19; followed by 220 million in 2019-20, 250 million in 2020-21, 300 million in 2021-22 and 350 million in 2022-23.
Yogi said the dream of ‘Green Uttar Pradesh’ will be fulfilled only with the participation of the people.
Now, UP is gearing up for a mass plantation drive on July 22 since the rainy season is ideal for the growth of saplings.
Concerted efforts will be made to plant 1,000 saplings in every village even as 50 million saplings are targetted to be planted on August 15, the country’s Independence Day.
The plantations will be marked by geo-tagging to ensure veracity of the drive. The aim is to increase the UP forest and green cover from 9 percent at present to 15 percent by 2026–27.
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To achieve this ambitious target, 1.75 billion saplings will be planted in the next five years with public participation.