With over 14 cr saplings left, state to continue plantation drive

Hindustan Times

14-07-2025

Having planted 37.21 crore saplings in one day (July 9), Uttar Pradesh still has over 14 crore saplings left in its nurseries and officials say many of these will be planted in the next one month. (Pic for representation)
'The specialty forests in urban areas such as Atal Van, Triveni Van are being developed and plantation is being done. In fact, the next over four weeks are very good for plantation and we will share saplings for any such initiative,' said Dipak Kumar, nodal of the Mega Plantation-2025 and senior forest officer.
Each of the 75 districts are developing urban forest pockets named Atal Van, Triveni Van, Eklavya, Ekta, Shaurya Van, and Oxy Forest to bring people close to nature. On an average, 1,600 saplings are being planted on one hectare land in these forests. Miyawaki Forest is also part of such development, but plantation here is dense compared to other forests.
Though not all left over saplings will be planted, a large number of saplings are expected to be utilised till September 5 when plantation will be done on Teachers' Day.
'Some saplings are not fully grown and hence they will be kept in nurseries for next year's plantation drive. The saplings we are planting are at least 5 feet and better up to 7 feet in height,' said Naveen Khandelwal, divisional forest officer Sitapur.
Good height of saplings makes them grow faster after plantation and keeps them safe from animals who come for grazing. Roughly 12 crore saplings might be left over for plantation next year. They will be nurtured in 1912 nurseries under the forest department.