The state government will reward any person who relays information if the recently planted two crore saplings are not being looked after well. The state has set aside a secret fund to reward the informants. Usually, such secret funds are used to reward police informants. Forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar also announced that a call centre would be set up where anyone can inform about the status of the saplings if proper care is not taken.
“So far we have planted over two crore saplings across the state and the initiative will go on... We are going to reward informants for providing information about any ignorance towards these saplings. A secret fund has been created for the purpose,” said Mr Mungantiwar, who also holds the finance portfolio.
The minister also announced a call centre after receiving complaints that the saplings were not being cared for well. “We have received a few complaints that proper care was not taken of the saplings. But, we want to ensure that it does not happen again. We are going to start a call centre where citizens can inform us about the status of the saplings,” he said.
The forest department initiated the plantation drive ‘Vanmahotsav’ to increase the state’s green cover.
The chief conservator of forests, Nagpur, has developed a software to mark the longitude and latitude of every tree, update its location, its type and so on.
The revenue and forest department laid out a well-oiled plan to carry out extensive tree plantation in the state on July 1. Of the total area (307 lakh hectares) of the state, 20 per cent is covered by forests. As per the National Forest Act, 1988, 33 per cent area should have green cover.
