Patna set to turn greener

PATNA: The state capital will get greener with the state forest department planning to plant as many as 26,000 saplings over the next five years at a cost of Rs 8 crore.

The department has decided to plant saplings of gulmohar, amaltas, crape myrtle, kachnar, jacaranda, yellow kaner, neem, pongamia and bottlebrush.

These saplings would be planted in residential colonies, parks, area around community centres and along roads of some identified localities of Kankarbagh, Danapur, Phulwarisharif and Agamkuan.

Sanjay Kumar Sinha, assistant district conservator of forest, said, "Forest department cannot plant saplings in residential areas without the prior permission of their residents. Residents of the above-mentioned localities had approached us for planting saplings."

"We are expecting more such requests from other city localities. The saplings would be planted within iron gabion cage," he said. In the areas with concrete pavement, holes will be dug before planting saplings.

In the first year, as many as 12,000 saplings will be planted at an estimated cost of Rs 3 crore. Next year, 8,000 saplings will be planted at an expenditure of Rs 2.5 crore. In the third year, the department will plant as many as 6,000 saplings at a cost of Rs 2 crore.

No saplings would be planted in the fourth and fifth years. Instead, attention will be paid to maintenance and care of the plants at an outlay of around Rs 57 lakh.

Sinha said, "Thousands of trees have been felled in the last five years to construct roads and new buildings. To compensate for the massive deforestation, we are coming up with this project of planting saplings on the available land in the residential areas of the city."