Mumbai:
As many as 52 crore saplings were planted in Maharashtra in the last three years, minister of state for forests Duttatray Bharane told the Legislative Council on Thursday.
The minister was responding to a calling attention raised by Congress MLC Husnabano Khalife.
“The target during 2017-19 was to plant 50 crore saplings but the actual figure has jumped to 52 crore and the survival rate of the planted saplings is 80 per cent,” Bharane said.
In 2014-19, former forest minister and BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar had launched a campaign to plant saplings on a large scale in a bid to increase green cover across the state.
Then opposition parties — Congress and NCP — had on several occasions raised doubts over the plantation drive and the survival of saplings.
NCP MLA Bharane on Thursday confirmed the over- achievement of the drive.
“Details about all the saplings that were planted are available on Vanyukta Shivar app,” he said.
Asked about complaints of half-hearted implementation of the campaign, he said, “We will go case by case. The scheme is going to continue and we intend to plant 10 crore saplings every year.
