Panchayats ignore plantation: Activist

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 18

Most of the panchayats in the border district are not carrying out plantation drive to cover 25 per cent of the shamlat land in their villages as per the state government’s policy.

The state government’’s policy on gram panchyat formulated in 2017 for planting green cover states that the state is predominantly dependent upon agriculture and 80 per cent of the water goes in irrigation. The water table is going down each day. The trend is so grim in some areas that the Central Ground Water Authority has announced 104 blocks as dark zones for their dangerously low underground water table level. To address the problem, the government has enacted Plantation Policy 2017.

An environmentalist, Kulwant Singh, said, “As per the policy, a gram panchayat having more than five acres of land will divide it in three parts. One third will be auctioned to dalits for cultivation and the same proportion will be used to plant saplings and the rest of the land will be openly auctioned for cultivation.”

He said the government also suggested names of plants to be planted. The communiqué, which was dispatched to all grand panchayats, suggested that they could procure these plants from the Forest Department, agricultural university and other government agencies.

The work to plant saplings is to be carried out under MGNREGA. However, most of the panchayats avoid carry out work under the policy, he said.

Despite repeated attempts, ADC (Development) Ravinder Singh, who is also looking after rural areas did not the respond to the calls.