Grow trees, secure marks
By Sarbjit Singh
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 19 — Grow trees, secure marks. Students, believe it. This is going to happen soon. Growing of trees will be part of the school curriculum in Punjab.

The Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, has approved a proposal in this regard. In fact, after a detailed discussion with senior officers, including Secretary of the Forest department, Mr J.S. Kesar, and Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Mr Gurmeet Singh, the Chief Minister has directed all officers concerned to implement this decision at the earliest.

The decision is part of launching of a state government-sponsored “Green mission” in Punjab.

Mr Gurmeet Singh told TNS today that under the green mission programme, all panchayats and students of middle, high and secondary schools, youth clubs, voluntary organisations and environmentalists would be involved in planting saplings at all available places in the state.

Students, except from primary schools, will be asked to adopt trees and grow them under their supervision till they (students) remain on the rolls of school concerned. For performing this “noble” duty to improve the environment of state, they would be given marks in annual examinations after seeing the size and growth of the trees adopted by them, according to Mr Gurmeet Singh. There will be committees of teachers and forest officials for deciding the marks to be given to the adopter-student.

There will be no difficulty in this connection as earlier also students opting for agriculture subject at the school level used to be given marks in the practical examination on the basis of demonstration plots of crops grown by them.

Under the green mission programme, trees will be planted in all schools, hospitals, industrial and rural focal points and available panchayat land. Instructions in the regard on behalf of the Chief Minister Badal, had been conveyed to the secretaries of the Education, Animal Husbandry, Panchayati Raj and Health departments. Master Mohan Lal, Punjab Minister for Forests, has assured the Chief Minister that the green mission programme would be made a model for the entire country.

Under the programme, as many as 10 lakh saplings of jamun, amb, Bahera, neem, sahujna, kahjeri, beri, pahari kikar, etc, will be planted in February. Mr Gurmeet Singh said saplings would be provided by the Forest department and panchayats of villages would play a pivotal role in this exercise. Likewise in urban areas municipal bodies would be playing the main role.

Already officials concerned of the Forest department have been directed to start digging of pits after consultation with authorities concerned at school, hospital and industrial focal point level. Pits would be ready by February and plantation work would start immediately. February has been chosen as winter will be nearing its end.

Mr Gurmeet Singh said Mr Badal was keen on seeing the green mission programme implemented successfully. He has also directed the Forest department authorities to remove all dry and dead trees by March 31. The number of such trees is in thousands. The removal of “dead and dry” trees would prevent illegal felling, and theft.

The government has also planned to restore traditional “trivenis” (cluster of three trees) in villages. At every bus stop along the rural link roads, ‘trivenis’ would be set up by planting three traditional trees — neem, pepal and bohar. Earlier ‘trivenis’ used to be part of a “chaupal” of every village but these vanished in recent years.

The forest cover in Punjab is far below than determined by the authorities in the union government. For making land available for agriculture, farming community removed dense tracts of forests, which used to be an integral part of almost every village, in recent years. As pollution level in the state is increasing, posing a threat to its environs, the Punjab Government has finally come out with the green mission programme.

At individual level religious personalities like Prof Manjit Singh, Jathedar of Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib have started distributing “parshad” of saplings to promote forestry in the state.