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Aerial seeding grinds to a halt
The government is taking up aerial seeding in Nellore and Chittoor during this northeast monsoon,” Prateep Kumar said.It should be recalled that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu mandated that 50 per cent of the city should be covered with forest. Visakhapatnam district has about 35 percent forest area and the city
Visakhapatnam: The proposed aerial seeding of the Visakhapatnam and surrounding areas during the southwest monsoons has been abandoned for various reasons.Additional principal chief conservator of forests N Prateep Kumar told The Hans India on Friday that Eastern Naval Command refused to part with the helicopters due to shortage and there were technical problems in inviting tenders for private choppers. As per the plan, around 30 tonnes of various seeds were to be sown in the district and other areas of the region.
The government is taking up aerial seeding in Nellore and Chittoor during this northeast monsoon,” Prateep Kumar said.It should be recalled that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu mandated that 50 per cent of the city should be covered with forest. Visakhapatnam district has about 35 percent forest area and the city had around 19 percent vegetation. Of this, about three per cent was damaged during super cyclone Hudhud, and the combined efforts from different quarters could only restore one per cent of the trees.
“We are now undertaking measures to plant more trees in the shortest time possible,” said Divisional Forest Officer B Dhanunjay Rao. In a bid to increase forest cover, the State government has introduced the Vanam Manam programme under its Haritha Andhra Mission, which aims at increasing the green cover of a geographical area to 50 per cent.
An existing National Forest Policy already mandates one-third (33.3 percent) of a given geographical area to be covered by vegetation.
We are undertaking block plantations (planting on a completely treeless area), gap plantations (fill gaps in a vegetated area), avenue plantations planting on roadsides and other pathways) and shelter belt plantations (planting along the coast). This year, the target is to plant two crore saplings along the shelter belt areas between Kesavaram and Gilmanfield. Block plantations will be undertaken in Visakhapatnam and Yelamanchili,” the DFO said.
Around four lakh saplings belonging to native categories like Rosewood, Yegisa, Nallamaddi, Ganara and Vepa (neem) have been already planted in around 350 hectares in Vizag division, the official said, adding, the forest department, along with the social forestry division, is exhorting schools, colleges, private property owners, NGOs and other interested members of the public to plant trees wherever they have a space.
Ecological imbalances could lead to irrevocable destruction to geographies. Indus Valley civilization, for example was wiped off due to extreme weather conditions,” he said.
