Nitish Kumar On World Environment Day: Bihar To Plant 5 Crore Saplings

World Environment Day 2021: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar planted a mahogany sapling at his official residence on environment day.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday launched an ambitious drive of planting five crore saplings in the state within a year. The drive was started on World Environment Day, with the Chief Minister planting a mahogany sapling on the grounds of his official residence, a statement said. Simultaneously, saplings were planted across villages, as non-profit bodies and paramilitary forces also joined the initiative, it said. The state government proposes to complete Mission 5 crore, which shall be undertaken as part of Nitish Kumar's comprehensive anti-climate change - Jal Jeevan Hariyali - programme, in 2021-22. For this, 5.5 crore saplings are being grown by the forest department, who will be planting 1.24 crore of these, leaving two crore for the rural areas and another 1.50 crore for Jeevika volunteers. Another 50 lakh saplings will be distributed among farmers, who will be paid Rs 60 per sapling for three years.  More than 20 lakh saplings would be planted by non-profit groups, various boards and clubs and central paramilitary forces in the state. Another 15 lakh saplings will be made available to citizens through mobile vans.