SAMBALPUR: The Green Mahanadi Mission launched last year to create a green belt along the Mahanadi river banks for preventing soil erosion and recharging groundwater has met with huge success.
Of the 2.8 lakh saplings planted on the banks, 90 per cent have survived and grown into a thriving green cover.
Sambalpur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sanjit Kumar said against a target of 2,50,000 saplings along Mahanadi and Ib rivers in the district last year, 2.8 lakh had been planted.
This year, the plantation drive will be taken up along the rivers to compensate those plants which were withered away, he stated.
The state government had launched Green Mahanadi Mission on June 5 last year to rejuvenate Mahanadi, Tel and Ib rivers and increase recharging capacity by massive plantation.
The Mission aimed to create a green belt having a width of one km on both sides of Mahanadi river from Jharsuguda to Paradip where it merges with the Bay of Bengal.
Accordingly, it was proposed to plant two crore saplings, including fruit-bearing trees, on both sides of the river in more than 1,300 villages in 15 districts during 2018-19 fiscal.
Under the Mission, there was also a proposal to undertake plantation over 75,760 hectare (ha) of Government land and 47,470 ha private land.
This apart, bunds of paddy and vegetable fields were covered, which is being implemented jointly by Forest, Horticulture and Water Resources departments.
Kumar said the massive campaign was undertaken last year to create awareness among the people for plantation along the rivers.
A 23-day Green Mahanadi Football Cup was also organised jointly by the Forest department and district administration.