5 lakh saplings to be planted in dist

ibune News Service

Ludhiana, July 11

As many as 5,17,550 tree saplings (550 for each gram panchayat) are being planted in the district. For the success of this project, a comprehensive plan has been formulated by the District Administration.

Work on planting the saplings and achieving this target is going on at full swing. As many as 2, 36, 500 plants in 430 villages of the district have been planted so far. Work on readying the places, where tree saplings are to be planted, has also been completed in 846 villages.

A district-level committee has been formed in this regard to make sure that the land for planting these tree saplings was identified and the saplings were planted and maintained properly. This committee has been working under the direct supervision of the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Development and the Divisional Forest Officer.

Pradeep Kumar Agrawal, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, said the district-level committee comprises all sub-divisional magistrates; AETC Ludhiana-2, Land Acquisition Collector Improvement Trust, Ludhiana, Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana; Estate Officer,, GLADA, deputy director, Local Government; District Public Relations Officer; District Information Officer; all Block Development and Panchayat Officers and block-level Forest Officers. Besides, a nodal officer has also been appointed for all 941 gram panchayats of Ludhiana.

Agrawal said the entire process had to be carried out before the Parkash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev and that was why a time frame had been fixed. He stated that the plantation of tree saplings would be carried till September 30. The efforts for proper maintenance of tree saplings would start from ground level from September 30 onwards.

The DC has appealed to the residents of Ludhiana to assist the district administration to make this project a success. Charanjeet Singh, Divisional Forest Officer, said the Forest Department has announced that the Panchayats, which will have all 550 saplings survive, would be declared Green Panchayats. A detailed survey would be carried out after six months of planting saplings.