Vizag authorities plan to plant over 3 crore saplings in district

In line with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s vision to develop greenery in the state, the Forest Department officials in collaboration with various other department officials in Vizag have planned to plant over three crore tree saplings all over the district. To execute the large-scale plans as part of the Green Andhra 2020-21 Campaign, Visakhapatnam District Collector, Joint Collector along with top officials from various departments chalked out a plan in a District Forestry Committee meeting held in Vizag on Tuesday.

As per the discussions, the Forest Department will be planting 136.76 lakh saplings, while the rest of 194.59 saplings will be planted by officials of various other departments. The Forest Department authorities announced that over one crore saplings have currently been grown in various nurseries across the district and have been made ready for plantation.

The authorities stated that these plants are ready to be supplied to small and large scale farmers, students and Non Governmental Organisations at subsidised prices set by the Vizag District Collector. The District Collector V Vinay Chand ordered that the saplings must be planted around government schools, government offices, on road-sides, and government housing layouts in Vizag.

Along with scouting for new investors for the state, the Andhra Pradesh government has also taken steps to make the state more environment-friendly. Earlier, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched an online waste exchange website of Andhra Pradesh Environment Management Corporation (APEMC) on World Environment Day this year. The e-platform highlights environment protection, safe disposal of toxic waste, tracking, scrutiny and audit of toxic waste. The online waste management platform will reportedly also work towards picking waste, in an eco-friendly way, from those who register on it. The Chief Minister also announced that new industries that are environmentally compliant would get faster approvals from the state government as an added incentive.