Industries fail to meet tree plantation target set by government

Several industries, including PSUs, have failed to meet their target of tree plantation across the state set by the Chhattisgarh government.

"During a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh in Raipur in the new Mantralaya on Monday, he expressed unhappiness over several industrial houses having failed to fulfill their target of sapling plantation in past few years," an official statement said.

"Industrial houses would no longer be allowed to independently plant saplings on their own. They will have to compulsorily deposit the amount to the state Forest Development Corporation in accordance with the target of plantation set by the state government," the statement quoted CM as saying.

The chief secretary will chair a meeting every three months to review the progress in this direction, it added.  Earlier it was not mandatory for industries to deposit money with the forest development corporation for plantation.

According to information, 15 industrial establishments including PSUs were given the target of 460 km long road to cover under plantation under the state government's Hariyar Chhattisgarh Abhiyan (green Chhattisgarh mission) last year.  However, only 20 km of patch was covered under the plantation by these industries.

The industrial firms which failed to fulfil its target include Bhilai Steel Plant, Lafarge Cement, NTPC (national thermal power corporation), Sarda Energy Private Limited, SECL (South eastern Coalfields Limited), NMDC (National Mineral Development Corporation), Heera Group, Balco, Jindal Steel, Ultratech cement, Century Cement, Monnet Ispat, Prakash Industries , Ambuja cement and ACC cement, the statement said.

However, Century Cement and Monnet provided details of their plantation drive but they also failed to produce strong evidence to certify their work, it mentioned.  Singh emphasised that it was a social responsibility of industries to keep the environment pollution free.

He further directed senior forest officials to set new target for industries, including the previous targets, and get it completed within a stipulated period of time.  Over seven crore saplings of varied species will be planted under the green mission this year in the state, Singh said.

He stressed that forest officials should seriously work to accomplish the target and also ensure proper care and maintenance of the trees to be planted under this mission, the statement said.