Chandigarh, Jul 25 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said that his government has initiated a campaign to plant three crore saplings this year and appealed to people to participate in it in large numbers.

He also urged people to take a "green pledge" by planting at least one sapling.

This will increase the green area of the state, which should be 20 per cent, the chief minister said while addressing a gathering through video conference on the occasion of the 72nd Van Mahotsav, which was organised by the state forest department.

Khattar said protecting the environment has always been the utmost priority of his government and several steps have been taken to make Haryana green.

"This year, we have set a target of planting three crore saplings. I would urge each one of you to become a part of the state government's plantation campaign to ensure the betterment of mother earth's heath," he said.

Khattar reiterated that a new policy is being contemplated wherein extra marks will be given to students to motivate them for planting saplings.

Citing the example of the Philippines, he said there, it is mandatory for every student to plant trees in order to get their graduation degree.

To encourage students in Haryana to plant saplings, Khattar said a possibility of making a provision of granting at least 10 additional marks to class XII students in final assessment is being explored by the education department.

“Under the Paudhgiri Abhiyan, an incentive of Rs 50 is given every six months for three years to children studying from class VI to XII who take care of the plant they have planted,” he said.

Cooperation Minister Banwari Lal attended the online function from Chandigarh, while Forest Minister Kanwar Pal attended the event from Jagadhri, an official statement said.

The chief minister also launched a citizen-centric e-Paudhshala mobile application for free distribution of plants from government nurseries.

“All citizens and government offices can get saplings from the nursery of the forest department by placing their demand through this app. The mobile application is available on both android and iPhone platforms,” he said.

Khattar said that through this application anyone can check the availability of plants of their choice in the nearest nursery and the app also has a navigation facility to guide one to the nearest nursery.

Citizens can click pictures of plantations and share them with the Haryana forest department through this app. Through this app, the role and contribution of citizens in making Haryana green will be acknowledged and recorded, Khattar said.

The chief minister said that soon another application for geo-tagging saplings planted by people will be launched.

The mobile application will help the forest department to take pictures of the planted trees every six months so as to ensure their health and safety, he said.

Khattar said that the forest area of Haryana state should be 20 per cent.

Being in the plains and an agricultural state, the notified forest area in Haryana is only 3.52 per cent and the total tree covered area is 3.62 per cent.

"Thus our total forest and tree covered area is around seven per cent. To increase it to 20 per cent, it is very important to plant more and more trees. This is a collective responsibility and keeping this in mind, special schemes are being implemented by the forest and education departments of Haryana,” he said.

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