Plantation drives carried out across U'khand to celebrate Harela festival

Earlier, the chief minister with his Cabinet colleague Harak Singh Rawat and Head of Forest Force Jairaj planted saplings of different species, including Rudraksha, at the CM's official residence. Governor Baby Rani Maurya distributed medicinal plants like Haldi, Ghritkumari, Tulsi, Giloy and lemon grass among village women at the Raj Bhavan, saying no home should be without the five plants.

Large-scale plantation drives were carried out in Uttarakhand on Thursday to celebrate Harela, a festival of greenery, with Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat planting a sapling in the memory of noted Garhwali folk singer Jeet Singh Negi at Smriti Van to mark its opening. Rawat asked people to cultivate the habit of planting saplings in the memory of their loved ones or important moments in their personal lives.

Nearly 3.5 lakh saplings were planted within an hour at different places in Dehradun district to mark the occasion. Rawat said conserving the saplings is as important as planting them and asked each resident to adopt one or two of them, out of which 60,000 would grow into fruit bearing trees.

He also spoke of massive tree plantation drives carried out by the government in the past to revive the state's Rispana and Kosi rivers. Earlier, the chief minister with his Cabinet colleague Harak Singh Rawat and Head of Forest Force Jairaj planted saplings of different species, including Rudraksha, at the CM's official residence.

Governor Baby Rani Maurya distributed medicinal plants like Haldi, Ghritkumari, Tulsi, Giloy and lemon grass among village women at the Raj Bhavan, saying no home should be without the five plants. She said in the times of the coronavirus pandemic, the importance of these medicinal plants has increased manifold.

She also planted Maulsari saplings at the Raj Bhavan lawns to mark Harela. Around 500 saplings rich in medicinal qualities were distributed among rural women on the occasion.