Bhopal: The Chouhan government is all to set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by planting six crore saplings along the 1,300 km stretch of Narmada river in the state. But environmentalists say that the saplings will not survive as the water level in Narmada will rise once the monsoon gains momentum in state. According to Met department, monsoon is expected to hit the state in next 36 hours. The saplings will be washed away in the flood, they said.
The government had passed a project worth Rs 534 crores in December last year for plantations of fruit-bearing saplings in an area of 1 km on the banks of Narmada in 16 districts through which it flows. The saplings include mango, guava, orange, mausambi, custard apple, berries, pomegranate, lemon and chikoo. The districts through which Narmada flows are Anuppur, Mandla, Jabalpur, Seoni, Narsinghpur, Hoshangabad, Raisen, Sehore, Harda, Dewas, Khandwa, Khargone, Barwani, Dhar and Alirajpur.
“It is almost certain that the saplings to be planted on July 2 for the conservation of Narmada River will be washed away in the flood as water level in Narmada will rise due to monsoon. The banks of the river will be submerged due to flood in the river and the saplings will be perished,” said eminent environmentalist, Subhash Pandey while speaking to Free Press.
He also told Free Press that the government has done nothing to conserve the green-belt along Narmada and prevent soil erosion.
“The government has no project for the conservation of green-belt. In urban areas, the belt should be of 50-metre wide and in rural areas it should be 500 metres from the banks of the river. As these guidelines are not followed, the saplings which will be planted by the administration will not hold soil and it will be washed away,” said Pandey.
He suggested that if the government is willing to stick to its decision on the scheduled plantation programme, then it has to make some amendments.
“The timing of the plantation is wrong and even if the government wants to go ahead, then it should not plant all the six crore saplings but only few to mark the programme. The remaining saplings should be planted after the monsoons so as to increase the chances of its survivability. Apart from this, they should try to plant the saplings of native plants that too at least 3-4 years old because their roots will quickly hold the soil compared to the frui-bearing ones which are not favourable to the environmental conditions there. The administration should also install tree guards to protect them from animals,” he added.
