More than 1 crore trees to be planted across state, says Suvendu Adhikari

A year-long afforestation programme where 1.10 crore trees of different species will be planted across the state was formally launched by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday (June 5, 2026).

The initiative titled “Ekti gaach mayer naame/Ek ped maa ke naam” (A Tree in Mother’s Name) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi in 2024. PM Modi had then planted a peepal tree at Buddha Jayanti Park in New Delhi and urged citizens to plant a tree in their mother’s name.

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The newly sworn-in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal was quick to launch the same initiative after coming to power in the state.

The Bengal Chief Minister launched the green drive at the state-level World Environment Day celebrations organised by the state government in Nalban, a green complex that has a sprawling waterbody hemmed in by landscaped gardens, in Salt Lake’s Sector V.

BJP MP Locket Chatterjee, MLAs Piyush Kanoria, Shankar Ghosh, Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay and other senior leaders were present at the ceremony.

According to officials, the campaign is intended not merely as a symbolic observance of World Environment Day on June 5, but as a sustained environmental movement focused on increasing the state’s green cover and promoting ecological responsibility.

As part of the initiative, participants planting saplings in their mothers’ names will be encouraged to install nameplates beside the trees and upload photographs on the My Bharat portal, following which digital certificates will be issued to them.

According to the state government’s notification, plantation targets have been fixed at multiple administrative levels. Around 5,000 saplings will be planted at the district and Kolkata Municipal Corporation levels, 100 at the block level, 200 in municipalities, 300 in municipal corporation boroughs and 1,000 saplings in each Assembly constituency.