Green cover: Forest dept grows 7.30 lakh saplings

In a bid to increase the green cover in the district, the Forest department has grown as many as 7.30 lakh saplings at 11 nurseries of the department, across the district.

As the district has been receiving rain from last one month, the department has decided to distributed six lakh saplings to farmers, general public, voluntary organisations, government offices, schools and colleges. The saplings will be distributed before August end.

According to the officials, the district has 18% green cover. As per the National Forest Policy, 33% of the geographical area should have tree cover and to achieve this target, the Forst department has introduced various afforestation programmes. To meet the target, green efforts should be launched on a war-footing and such programmes will be successful only with the active involvement of the community at large.

The department itself will plant 1.30 lakh saplings by the side of roads, in gomalas (grazing land), government lands and other open space. The department will distribute saplings to the farmers at affordable prices. The farmers can procure saplings directly from the Forest department nurseries, said Assistant Conservator of Forests S P Mahadev. While some saplings cost Re 1, some are sold at Rs 3. A farmer can purchase up to 400 saplings.

The saplings will be distributed at seven taluks and the farmers have submitted the proposal for saplings they need. On an average, 600 farmers have registered names at respective forest nurseries and the Forest department
offices.

The farmers need to produce a copy of Aadhar card, RTC, bank pass book, a passport size photograph and mobile phone number, during registration. The department charges Rs 10 as registration fee.

Incentive

To boost the survival rate of the saplings, the department offers an incentive of Rs 30 per plant for the first and second year and Rs 40 a tree for the third year to the farmers and public who grow the plants. The incentive will be deposited into the farmers’ bank account directly. The respective Range Forest Officers (RFOs) will visit the place for evaluation of the saplings and the incentive would be paid on the basis of their report.