The Assam government has announced an initiative involving planting 1 crore saplings in a single day in the upcoming month of September to increase the forest cover in the state.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday launched an app and a web portal related to this large-scale initiative. The initiative has been named ‘Amrit Brikshya Andolan’.
During an event on Wednesday, Sarma said that it would provide a major boost to the state’s green economy.
Stating that rampant destruction of forests across the world as one of the major contributing factors behind global warming, he exuded confidence that collective initiatives such as ‘Amrit Brikshya Andolan‘ would be Assam’s contribution towards the fight against climate change.
“On September 17, in three hours, around 40 lakh members of women self-help groups from across the state would be planting two commercially-viable saplings each, taking the total to 80 lakhs. The remaining 20 lakhs or more would be planted by people belonging to various walks of life such as anganwadi workers, tea garden workers, government officials, police and forest battalions and members of the general public of the state,” the Chief Minister said.
Saplings would be available at distribution centres that would be set up for the purpose, he said, adding that those who register themselves with the Amrit Brikshya Andolan app or portal and upload geo-tagged photographs of them planting the saplings would be credited with an amount of Rs 100 in their bank account.
The state government would target planting of 3 crore commercially-viable saplings, while in 2025, the aim would be to plant 5 crore saplings, Sarma added.
