Mumbai: Maharashtra is inching closer to the goal of planting 33 crore saplings under ‘Vanmahotsav’ as 29 crore have been planted in two months. While suburban Mumbai has already surpassed the target, the plantation in Mumbai city area has only reached 38.4 per cent of its target owing to unavailability of land.
Till August 30, total saplings planted in districts of Maharashtra by various agencies stood at 29,17,88,059, which is around 84 per cent of the target.
Among 36 areas of the state, only two places inclu-ding Mumbai Suburban region, Akola and Nashik have achieved the 100 per cent target, with highest plantation at Nashik, crossing the one crore mark.
“Many districts in Maharashtra have shown tremendous improvement in plantation drive this year, as 29 districts have achieved more than 60 per cent of the target. Water-stressed districts have been facing problem as there was lesser rainfall during monsoon this year,” said a senior official from Maharashtra forest department.
Latur and Parbhani in Marathwada have only achieved 58 per cent of its target, however Mumbai city areas have achieved even lesser than that.
“The contrast between Mumbai city and its suburban area is mainly due to lack of land and open spaces. Forest land also comes in factor here whi-ch is very less in the city areas,” added the official.
Meanwhile, independent activists stated that apart from ‘Vanmahotsav’ target of 33 crores saplings, the city has seen plantation of 31 native species in open lands of Mumbai and inside residential societies.
“The government land in Mumbai city is already over-saturated, so the target for plantation should not be unrealistic. In our individual capacity along with the BMC, we have distributed 29,000 saplings this year till August. We are also working with the civic body on mini-forest project,” said Subhajit Mukherjee, founder of Let’s Green Foundation.
The state has also written to forest department to ensure that the government nurseries provide only native species for Vanmahotsav.
“It was found that some nurseries were distributing ornamental saplings like Gulmohar and Kashid, which are not stipulated under the 33 crore plantation. We emphasize that citizens and agencies should plant only native species,” said the official.
