Forest Dept. in Coimbatore to escalate distribution of saplings

The Forest Department will intensify its effort to distribute saplings that have been raised for afforestation works under the Green Tamil Nadu Mission, through which the State aims to increase its forest and tree cover from 23.8 % to 33 % in 10 years.

Additional Chief Secretary, the Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department, Supriya Sahu urged Forest Department officials attached to the Coimbatore Forest Division to distribute maximum number of saplings to the public under the Mission, tapping the conducive weather during the Southwest monsoon.

Ms. Sahu inspected the central nursery on the forest office campus in north Coimbatore in the presence of District Collector G.S. Sameeran and senior Forest officials.

She directed the officials to phase out use of plastic bags to raise saplings by replacing them with mini pots made of coco peat, which the Department had used in a pilot project in Chennai.

As on Sunday, the Forest Extension Division distributed 7,000 saplings of various trees to the public free of cost. This included to educational institutions, industries, farmers and the general public. While 85,000 saplings were raised at the central nursery, Mettupalayam and Madukkarai forest ranges raised 50,000 and 15,000 saplings respectively. The tree varieties included malai vembu, mahogany, teak, casuarina, pungam, neem, tamarind, kodukkapuli, badam, rosewood, red sanders and guava.  Conservator of Forests (Coimbatore circle) and Field Director of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve S. Ramasubramanian, Field Director of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve D. Venkatesh, Coimbatore District Forest Officer T.K. Ashok Kumar, Assistant Conservator Forests C. Dinesh Kumar, forest range officers K. Jayachandran and Arun Kumar were present. For more details regarding the free saplings, contact the Forest Department at 97916 61116.