Congress praises Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat for tree plantation initiative

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat's initiative to celebrate traditional festival 'Harela' in the form of a tree plantation drive has been praised by Congress, which said linking the festival with environment conservation will benefit the state in many ways.

"We welcome the Chief Minister's decision to celebrate the festival on this scale and linking it with environment conservation."

"The state is all set to reap numerous benefits from this move," Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay said addressing party workers here today.

He appealed to party workers to go to people and seek their cooperation in making the drive a success as such programmes are necessary for expanding the the shrinking green cover all over the country.

'Harela' which marks the onset of the sowing season in Uttarakhand is being marked on a big scale this year in the form of a tree plantation drive.

Officials have been asked to plant a sapling in each village of their area and offer incentives to those who plant fruit and fodder bearing trees.

Named 'Aao Manayein Hariyala' (Come let us celebrate Hariyala), the campaign will go on for over a week during which ministers, parliamentary secretaries, secretaries, DMs, SDMs, District Development Officers and divisional forest officers will plant a tree each in every village of the district under their charge.