SAMBALPUR: As many as 4,000 people from across Sambalpur city formed a human chain to create awareness on plantation at Ring Road along Mahanadi river on Sunday.The initiative was organised by the district administration in association with the Forest department as part of ‘Green Mahanadi Mission’. The human chain covered the 4 km stretch on Ring Road from near Nelson Mandela Chowk to Mandlia Ground.
The State Government had launched the ‘Green Mahanadi Mission’ here on the banks of Mahanadi river on June 5 to rejuvenate Mahanadi, Tel and Ib rivers and increase their recharging capacity through massive plantation. A green belt with a width of 1 km will be created on both sides of Mahanadi river beginning from the place, where the river enters Odisha, till Paradip, where it merges with the Bay of Bengal under the mission.
Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur, Sanjit Kumar said the objective of the human chain was to create awareness among the people on the benefits of plantation along the Mahanadi river. He said the participants in the event planted saplings on the median of the Ring Road, which has been divided into nine sections for plantation. Around 1,300 saplings were planted in the median of the Ring Road from Nelson Mandela Chowk to Mandlia Ground here. Those who planted trees also tied ‘Rakhya Sutra’ (protection thread) on the saplings, he said.
Under the mission, plantation will be undertaken over 75,760 hectare (ha) of Government land besides 47,470 ha private land. Around 2 crore saplings, including fruit-bearing trees, will be planted on both sides of the river during 2018-19 fiscal, the DFO informed. Plantation will also be carried out on the ‘bunds’ of paddy and vegetable fields, he added. “Saplings of fruit-bearing trees, which do not have bad impact on crops, will also be grown on the ‘bunds’,” Kumar said.
Apart from the human chain, street play, pala, drawing, signature campaign, selfie point, martial art, skipping and rangoli were also the major attraction of the massive awareness campaign for plantation. Besides, cultural programmes based on conservation of river Mahanadi and plantation were also organised on the Ring Road at Balibandha during the awareness campaign.