Plantation cacophony unsupported by maintenance an exercise in futility: green activists
Thursday, 08 August 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The State government should draw a tree plantation maintenance plan in order to protect and preserve the saplings planted during the Harela celebration this year, the environment activists averred.
Notably this year, following the State government’s initiative to involve various departments in extensive plantation activities during Harela, a host of departments, ministers and politicians have plunged headlong into the sapling planting spree across the State.
The ceremonial plantation drive is still going on in full swing as per the 50 lakh tree plantation target set by the chief secretary Radha Raturi by August 15.
Completely unfazed by the plantation spree, the activists warned that mere sapling plantation programmes- conducted with pomp and show- with scant attention to their maintenance and preservation would be an exercise in utter futility.
Talking to The Pioneer, the president of the Citizens For Green Doon (CFGD) Himanshu Arora said that the government has remained engaged in tree plantation endeavours across the State on the occasion of Harela for years on end. “But unfortunately, there is no follow-up care to be taken of them so as to help these saplings grow into trees. No one is there to take the Harela enthusiasm to successful culmination and the saplings more often than not end up decaying and dying,” he rued.
Arora recalled that the tree plantation campaigns to mark Harela had been initiated by the former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in 2019 and 1, 50,000 trees had been planted around the Rispana bridge in Dehradun. “Some villagers were given the task of looking after those saplings in lieu of salary. Later, their salary payment stopped and the saplings were left to fend for themselves. This is the farce hidden in the Harela hubbub,” he said,
Speaking of the CS’s 50 lakh tree plantation target directive, he said that this much-flaunted exercise is bound to result in wastage of energy and resources. “Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) only has 10,000 tree guards and with this, how can they expect to maintain 50 lakh plants?” he asked.
Speaking in the same vein, the noted environmentalist Ravi Chopra said that the tree plantation boom and scant post-plantation maintenance is the sad story being told each year. “To ensure that the drive yields enduring results, the common people should be involved instead of the government agencies in the plantation drive. They should be encouraged to plant saplings themselves and subsequently, they may be more caring for these saplings than the unfeeling government agencies,” he added.
