Green campaign: Bodhi sapling planted at Nitish's residence

Kumar got the sapling from Bodh Gaya and planted it at 1 Anne Marg.

Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, which has been given the task to protect the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, is regularly consulted for care of the sapling at the Chief Minister's residence. Legend goes that Lord Buddha attained enlightenment under this tree.

Plantation of the sapling is part of Kumar's initiative to increase greenery in the state which at present has only 9.79 per cent area under green covers.

"Harit Bihar abhiyan (campaign) is aimed at increasing forest and green areas in Bihar which is facing dwindling tree population after Jharkhand was carved out of the state," Kumar told PTI.

The JD-U's rule of planting saplings to become member of the party is also yielding good results, he said.

"A total of 11.65 lakh saplings have been planted under the scheme so far," he said, adding his government has made a provision to maintain a record of these saplings through computer entry to track their growth.

"More than nine lakh computer entries with details like name of planter, ID number of each of the tree with photograph have been done so far," he said. (More)