Lucknow: The Forest Department has commenced preparations for this year’s mega tree plantation campaign. In this regard, the State Minister for Environment, Forest, Climate Change, and Zoological Gardens (Independent Charge), Dr. Arun Kumar Saxena, held a meeting with forest officials from across the state at Tilak Hall, Vidhan Bhavan. He provided essential directives to ensure the campaign’s success and conducted an in-depth review of other departmental schemes and budget allocations.
The minister highlighted that from 2015 to 2024, afforestation has been carried out on 4,07,186 hectares of land. This year, the Forest Department aims to plant 12.60 crore trees across 80,000 hectares. Targets have also been set for other departments, and all necessary arrangements for the large-scale afforestation drive must be completed on time. Dr. Saxena emphasized ensuring the availability of healthy, high-quality saplings in nurseries. He also instructed strict action against individuals involved in illegal logging and poaching, aiming for zero cases of such offenses. Furthermore, he directed the appropriate development and monitoring of eco-tourism initiatives in all districts.
The meeting included discussions on district-wise forest land availability, the number of nurseries, and the total sapling inventory. Officials also reviewed site inspections, monitoring unit surveys, and progress under the “Save Trees” campaign. Additionally, key topics included the land received under the CAMPA scheme over the past five years, afforestation efforts along national and district highways for 2024-25, wildlife crime cases registered in the last three years, and measures taken against illegal logging. The review also covered the Green Building initiative and actions regarding minimum wages for daily-wage forest workers.
The meeting was attended by Anil Kumar, Principal Secretary of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change; Sunil Chaudhary, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Department; Anuradha Vaimuri, Principal Chief Conservator of Wildlife; senior officials from the headquarters; and Chief Conservators and Forest Conservators from all districts.
