Times News NetworkKanpur: Major roads of the district would be lined with Peepal and Amaltas trees, while seven special theme-based forests would be developed in development blocks and Gokul Vatikas would be set up in the district.This was decided in a meeting of the Tree Plantation Committee chaired by district magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh on Tuesday.The DM directed all the departments to work in close coordination to transform the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign into a mass movement. He instructed officials to develop ‘Gokul Vatikas’ at 52 shelters that have been merged with nearby shelters and where Gram Samaj land is lying vacant. These sites would be converted into green zones through large-scale plantation drives. Peepal saplings would be planted on both sides of the Ramaipur-Sadh-Jahanabad route, while Amaltas saplings would be planted on the stretch along Ganga Barrage to Mandhana giving both the routes a unique identity.The administration has also planned seven special forests in different parts of the district. A ‘Vande Mataram Vatika’ featuring 111 saplings would be developed at the War Memorial in DGQA Colony under the Cantonment Board area. An ‘Energy Forest’ with 17,500 saplings would be created at Hajipur village in Bilhaur tehsil using fuel-purpose tree species.Similarly, a ‘Maharishi Charak Forest’ would come up at Sudhanshu Ji Maharaj Ashram, a ‘Social Harmony Forest’ at Kargil Park, a ‘Prosperity Forest’ and an ‘Oxy-Forest’ at Sanjay Van Chetna Kendra and a fruit orchard at Allen Forest. Directions were also issued for establishing Miyawaki forests in every development block.The DM directed the officials to undertake extensive plantation under the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5. A massive plantation drive would be carried out during the first week of July with the onset of monsoon and all departments have been directed to start lifting saplings from nurseries from June 15 onwards.Divisional forest officer (In-charge) Vikas Nayak said that around 52 lakh saplings were ready in 27 nurseries across the district. These include Mango, Mahua, Peepal, Pakad, Banyan, Moringa, Semal, Siris, Sheesham, Jamun, Kaitha, Gular, Bel, Baheda, Ashok, Kadam, Amla, Guava, Pomegranate and Tamarind saplings.According to department-wise targets, the Forest department would plant 8.55 lakh saplings while Rural Development department has been assigned a target of 13.06 lakh saplings, Agriculture department 2.93 lakh, Environment department 2.41 lakh, Urban Development department 2.16 lakh, Panchayati Raj department 1.37 lakh and Revenue department 96,700 saplings.Chief development officer Abhinav J Jain, chief veterinary officer Anurag Singh, district panchayat raj officer Manoj Kumar, sub-divisional forest officer Ashish Jain and district agriculture officer Arunesh were present in the meeting..
