Varanasi: Surpassing China’s 2018 record of planting 1,53,981 saplings in an hour, people here on Sunday successfully planted 2,51,446 saplings to pave the way for developing the first urban forest of Kashi and also world’s largest Miyawaki forest zone in the Domari area on the opposite bank of the mythological ghats.Before the Mayor Ashok Kumar Tiwari and Municipal Commissioner Himanshu Nagpal received the certificate for establishing the new record from Guinness World Records judge Rishi Nath, this milestone was achieved by Varanasi Municipal Corporation at Sujabad Domri with the collective efforts of the Army, NDRF, police, thousands of students, and dignitaries.To establish an ‘Oxygen Bank’ and document this historic moment, enthused participants started congregating in the trans Ganga areas between Sujabad and Domari, where VMC targeted planting 3.17 lakh saplings on 350 bigha of land. In the presence of the Guinness World Records team, the plantation started at 8 am. Though, on completion of 1 hour, only 2,51,446 saplings were planted, it was sufficient to surpass the previous world record set by China’s Henan Provincial Committee and Henan Shifange Greening Engineering Company by planting 1,53,981 saplings in an hour on March 10, 2018.Guinness World Records adjudicator Rishi Nath and world record strategist Nishchal Barot minutely monitored every activity.
