With a dry spell persisting in Shimla for over three months, the city Mayor Surinder Chauhan on Sunday personally took the initiative to irrigate saplings planted under the city’s tree plantation project at Chamina, to ensure a higher survival rate.
The Mayor, along with his team and members of the local Self Help Groups (SHGs), undertook the watering of saplings using water supplied through tankers. Chauhan said he had recently visited the area and observed that the prolonged dry spell could adversely impact the
survival of the newly planted saplings.
“We had undertaken a week-long tree plantation drive in Chamina, on the outskirts of Shimla, during August under the Rajiv Gandhi Van Samvardhan Yojna (RGVSY), which is a Himachal Pradesh initiative aimed at boosting afforestation. As the scheme also aims to strengthen rural livelihoods by shifting to a community-driven model, we engaged SHGs
to plant saplings and ensure their survival, intending to increase
green cover,” he informed, adding that around 3,000 saplings had been
planted over one hectare of land in Chamina.
“The area was adopted by the Shimla Municipal Corporation keeping in view the under-construction four-lane road in the area and its proximity to the super speciality hospital, Atal Institute of Medical Super Specialities (AIMSS).
“We intend to compensate for the loss of trees in the area due to development work and to beautify the surroundings while improving the oxygen bank for patients visiting the hospital,” said Chauhan.
He said that every person should plant at least two saplings in their lifetime for a clean and green environment. “Tree plantation is one of the effective ways not only to increase forest cover but also to reduce the carbon footprint. It plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle and is key to climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions,” Chauhan said.
He called upon NGOs and other organisations actively involved in plantation drives to ensure the survival rate of the saplings planted by them during the ongoing dry spell by regularly watering the young plants.
RGVSY, a community-driven afforestation programme aimed at boosting the state’s green cover while generating employment for local groups, was launched by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu this year. The target is to plant trees over more than 9,000 hectares of forest land, of which 60 per cent will be fruit-bearing species.
To ensure a higher survival rate, the saplings will be maintained for five years.