33 cr trees to be planted in State: Mungantiwar

33 cr trees to be planted in State: Mungantiwar

PUNE: “The State government has set an ambitious plan to plant 33 crore trees from July 1 to September 30 this year which is a part of the Green Maharashtra drive and, as per the audit conducted by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), in the last two years, the tree-cover under non-forest areas has increased by 273 sq km, the highest in the country,” said Finance and Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Monday while addressing a press conference at Council Hall.

“From 33 crore tree plantation, 5,47,500 plantations will be done in Pune division. Pune division covers Pune, Solapur, Sangli, Kolhapur and Satara districts. As per the FSI audit, the bamboo plantation in Maharashtra has increased by 4,462 sq km, while the area under water bodies saw an increase of 432 sq km,” Mungantiwar said.

“From July 1 to July 31, 2018, 13 crore trees were planted and out of those 86 per cent of trees have survived. The government is also encouraging the expansion of the Green Army, a volunteer-based group, in which around 11 lakh people from Pune division alone have registered for its membership,” Mungantiwar added.

He stressed that along with preparing the Development Plan, the civic body should focus on preparing an Environment Plan. In the next 10 years, open spaces should be turned into water bodies and green spaces. The corporation should make nurseries in the premises of their building.

On taluka level, Mungantiwar said that, under the guidance of Member of Parliaments (MP’s) committee of tree planting, conservation and preservation will be made. The dedicated forest helpline number 1926, ‘Hello Forest’ is the country’s first helpline dedicated to forests and to conserve and protect trees.

“To give employment from bamboo, we have started up with Bamboo Board, Bamboo Research and Training Centre, Bamboo HandiCraft Training and  Art Unit at SPPU. This year, we will deliver four crore bamboos from the bamboo forest to rural people of the state,” he added.

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