UP eyes Guinness record with 50 mn plantations

The drive was kicked off by Mulayam Singh Yadav at Kukrail forest reserve spread over 2,200 hectares in Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh government is eyeing a Guinness World Record with its ambitious target of planting 50 million saplings in 24 hrs beginning today.

The plantation drive was kicked off by ruling Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Kukrail forest reserve spread over 2,200 hectares in Lucknow.

The drive was carried forward by his son and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav by planting saplings in Kannauj and Kanpur Dehat districts.

Besides, the state ministers in charge of different districts led the campaign in their respective areas.

The plantation drive is part of the larger 'Clean UP, Green UP' initiative of the state government, which rivals a similar campaign titled 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' of the Narendra Modi-led central dispensation.

In run up to the mega plantation drive, the nurseries had prepared over 90 million saplings, of which 50 million saplings were targetted to be planted at 6,166 different locations across UP.

Meanwhile, the government plans to deploy the Global Positional System (GPS) technology to monitor the plantation campaign.

Earlier, the Akhilesh government had set a target to plant 100 million trees during 2015-17 all over the state. GSP would help track actual plantations and account for tree mortality, which could be replenished with fresh plantation.

GPS is a satellite-based navigation system. GPS satellites circle earth in precise orbit and transmit signals. Through advanced technological tools, one can determine the exact position of an object and display it on an electronic map for analysis.

At the conclusion of 'Van Mahotsava' in July 2015, the government had claimed plantation of 12 million trees of different varieties against the target of 10 million saplings.