Uttar Pradesh district launches afforestation drive

KUSHINAGAR - The Forest Department in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar District has begun a drive to plant saplings on a large scale in a bid to prevent deforestation.

“Global warming is increasing, pollution is increasing, so, to stop these things to increase, we are motivating the forest department and even the common people to plant more and more trees,” said R P Singh, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO).

The forest department is motivating other organisations to spend one percent of their budget on tree plantation, as the district accounts for just two percent of the total forest cover in the state.

“We are planting saplings on the road sides, near the canals. We are putting our best effort to plant more saplings to increase the greenery,” said Mukhundu, a gardener.

The forest department is taking help from the non-governmental organisations in the plantation drive.

According to the State of Forest Report 2009, the country has only 21.02 percent of its geographical area under forest cover.

This is targeted to grow to 33 percent by 2012. (ANI)