MP’s ‘Ankur Abhiyan’: Barwani Plants 70K Saplings in Just 6 Hours, Sets Record

BHOPAL / Taking a pledge to nurture the plants as kids of their family and to become a green district, thousands of volunteers along with the district administration of Barwani simultaneously planted a total of 70,000 saplings on Sunday on the occasion of Hariyali Amavasya, the initiative is a part of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s unique campaign- ‘Ankur Abhiyan’.

District in-charge and Environment minister Hardeep Singh Dang, Lok Sabha MP Gajendra Singh Patel and collector of Barwani Shivraj Singh inaugurated the mega event by planting saplings. Out of 70,000, a total of 30,000 saplings are planted on the Ashagram hill and the remaining 40,000 springers were planted in various parts of the district.

The people of the district including a large number of women volunteers exuberantly participated in the massive plantation programme. Collector’s wife Pushpa Singh and daughter Aarti Singh also planted the saplings during the campaign.

Planting 70,000 saplings in just 6 hours is likely the largest plantation event that has occurred in any district of the state so far.

The campaign that has become a public movement is being run with the public contribution on the inspiration of the district collector, Shivraj Singh. People along with collector Singh earlier in the last rainy season planted around 30,000 saplings on the three hills of Satpura ranges namely Rewa Kunj, Son Kunj and Shiv Tekari Lonsara located in the city nearby. It is a wonder that all plants are alive. However, the forest department also has planted around 4.2 lakh saplings in the current monsoon season in the district.

Barwani is situated on the banks of the holy river Narmada and on the Satpura ranges. In the campaign, Around 80 acres of hilly area is being developed into green space in which 47 acres of area has already been wrapped greenery.

On the initiative of the district collector Singh, the volunteers planted 30,000 saplings of various kinds of species such as Banyan, Sacred fig(peepal), Chirol and Azadirachta indica (neem) on Ashagram, another hill of Satpura ranges covers 33 acres.

On the same day, around 40,000 saplings have also been planted at the government buildings such as schools colleges, hospitals, Anganwadi centres, Panchayat Bhawan etc in the three blocks of the district namely Sendhwa, Rajpur and Pansemal. Students also soared saplings eagerly in the mega plantation programme.

“The Department of Happiness inspired me to do something for nature and the needy. The success of this mega plantation, a part of the CM’s ‘Ankur Abhiyan’, is the result of spreading the spirit of the ‘initiative of change’ among the people of Barwani”, the collector, Shivraj Singh told The Sun Today.

Collector Singh has also been a nodal officer of the department of happiness along with ADM in Gwalior, during the period he built an Anand Uddhyan at the collectorate with the help of the people and thousands of saplings were planted in various parts of the city.

“Covid-19 pandemic has given us a lesson to understand the importance of nature. It is an urgent need to connect ourselves with nature and to protect the environment. In the campaign, we have focused on three things, suitable space, water availability and security of the plants”, the collector said.

The volunteers had been preparing for the plantation for the two months at Ashagram hill by donating labour, constructing two water tanks each having a capacity of 70,000-litre and laying a network of pipelines to irrigate the plants through the drip irrigation system.

“We have focused to develop a city forest and converting the hills into a tourist destination where the Narmada Arti will be performed soon at the bank of the holy river”, the collector added.
Several groups of volunteers together with government employees have owned up the responsibility of keeping the plants safe until they grow into trees and shrubs.