Maharashtra to plant 50 crore saplings in 3 yrs

In a bid to increase the forest cover in Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena government will launch an ambitious project on Friday to plant 50 crore saplings in three years.

The aim is to plant 2 crore saplings across 65,674 sites on Friday, making it one of the biggest environment conservation drives in the world.

The project is the brainchild of Finance, Planning and Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who over the last one-and-a-half-years has launched several initiatives and roped in legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan as ambassadors. From July 1, on the occasion of “Van Mahotsav” (forest festival), the state government aims to develop nurseries in all villages and the funds for preparing saplings would be made available by the District Planning Committee.