Jaipur: The Rajasthan govt has mandated geo-tagging and four-monthly photographic updates for all saplings planted under the Hariyalo Rajasthan mission to ensure their survival and growth.The directive follows last year’s drive in which over 11 crore saplings were planted, exceeding the 10 crore target. The education department led the campaign with more than 4.15 crore saplings. The govt has said monitoring will continue until the plants mature into trees, with dead saplings to be replaced. To streamline oversight, the director of secondary education on Tuesday asked all joint commissioners to appoint a tree plantation in-charge to work with Vanmitras. They will ensure each sapling is tracked against targets, cared for, and maintained through public participation, NGOs and volunteers. The plantations must be sustained for at least three years under MNREGA or departmental schemes. “Every four months, the respective plantation in-charge will upload photos tracking the well-being and growth of each tree on the Hariyalo Rajasthan app,” an official order said. However, govt school teachers flagged implementation gaps, saying no plantation in-charges or Vanmitras have been formally appointed since the mission’s first phase in 2024. Vipin Prakash Sharma, state president of the Rajasthan Primary and Secondary Education Teachers Association, said the move adds to teachers’ non-academic workload. “No special appointments were made; instead, teachers were told they would get incentives in promotions or transfers for monitoring plants. Now, with geo-tagging every four months and compliance reports, the burden has only increased,” Sharma said.
