MCD launches plantation drive on Harela, aims to plant one lakh saplings in 15 Days
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) planted 25,000 saplings on the occasion of Harela on Wednesday as part of a city-wide plantation campaign. The corporation aims to plant one lakh saplings in the next 15 days under this drive. The Dehradun mayor Saurabh Thapliyal and municipal commissioner Namami Bansal led the campaign by planting saplings along the IT Park to Nalapani Road stretch in Danda Lakhond area.
The mayor personally dug the soil and planted saplings in nearby localities. The mayor said that the responsibility for maintaining the newly planted trees has been handed over to women’s self-help groups from the area. Later, the plantation drive continued in the Arcadia area of Sahaspur constituency, where the mayor was joined by MCD workers and local councillors. The campaign covered multiple zones, including Sahastradhara Road with 8,000 saplings, Arcadia with 5,000, Kaulagarh-Kargi area with 3,000, Kirshali Chowk with 3,000 and Kulhan area with 6,000 saplings.
The saplings included species such as amla, jamun, kachnar and bamboo. Thapliyal stated that the Harela festival encourages citizens to engage in plantation and appealed to residents to contribute by planting trees in their own areas. The mayor and commissioner also distributed cloth bags to discourage plastic use to promote environmental awareness.
Besides this, Bansal also informed that the responsibility for sapling maintenance has been assigned to ward sanitation supervisors, who will monitor their growth regularly. Thapliyal stated that the MCD is working on a detailed plan to restore Dehradun’s green cover and bring back its earlier ecological balance. As part of the Green Fortnight initiative, the MCD will organise various activities related to plantation and environmental awareness until July 31, he added.
