TNI Bureau: Odisha government will plant 75 lakh saplings to mark the 75th birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17, informed Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.
Majhi made the announcement while presiding over a preparatory meeting regarding the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0 campaign at Lok Seva Bhawan today.
It is worth noting that the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign was launched by the Prime Minister last year. This year, its second edition, Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0, is being observed from June 5 to September 30. The state government has set a target of planting at least 7.5 crore saplings in this second edition of the program.
In the preparatory meeting, the Chief Minister said that the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam 2.0 program has become a mass movement. Last year, Odisha surpassed its target in this program and secured the fourth position in the country by planting 6.72 crore trees. This year, the target is to plant 7.5 crore trees and with that, 75 lakh trees will be planted in just one day, the Chief Minister said. This will be a record, he said.
Giving suggestions to make the program a success, the Chief Minister said that the Forest Department and the Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Department had the main responsibility in this, but to make this process more widespread, there is a need to involve various government departments, PSUs, NGOs, various youth organizations, voluntary organizations in this campaign as much as possible.
Majhi said that the heads of Panchayat Institutes, schools, colleges, self-help groups will have an important role in this. For this, he directed the Information and Public Relations Department to organize a wide publicity program. The publicity of this program should be done in a very effective manner. He opined that the campaign is not just a program, it should be a mass movement for environmental protection.
Stating that it is not enough to just plant trees, one should also take responsibility for how these trees will have a better future, the Chief Minister said that after planting the trees, every government employee and the public should be responsible for their maintenance and care.
Majhi said that trees such as Neem, Karanj, Tamarind, Phasi, Arjun, Harida, Amla, Bahada, Jack fruit, Tal, guava, Krishna Chura, Peepal, banyan, Ashoka, Jamun, Kadamba, Devdaru, Sunari, Karanj (pongamia pinnata), Chakunda etc. can be selected for group-forest, rural forest, roadside sapling planting and individual tree planting.
Along with this, he said that the photos and data of tree planting should be uploaded on the MeriLiFE portal. Panchayat officers in the villages will expedite this work and monitor it during the tree planting program, he said.
The Chief Minister also announced that rewards will be given at individual and group levels for good performance.