Over 28,000 saplings to be planted along Manjara river in Latur

The Latur district administration will begin planting 28,000 saplings on both sides of Manjara river over the next two weeks to increase forest cover in the region, Collector Prithviraj BP said on Saturday.

This 'Green Latur' initiative will be carried out by forming a human chain 10 kilometres long, while a one-hectare oxygen park will be developed in each village in the district, he added.

He was speaking at a programme planning meeting, which was attended by the sarpanchs of villages along Manjara river, police patils, talathis, gramsevaks, principals of city colleges, apart from ZP Chief Executive Officer Abhinav Goyal, former MLC Pasha Patel, Additional Collector Arvind Lokhande, District Agriculture Superintendent Dattatraya Gavasane, Deputy Collector Nitin Waghmare etc.

''The forest cover of Latur is low, due to which we have planned to plant 28,000 saplings. The forest cover in every district must ideally be 33 per cent, while it is just 0.5 per cent in Latur. The tree varieties that will be planted include bamboo, umber, jambul, karanj, arjun and gondan,'' he said.

Awareness programmes for the drive are being held in villages like Bhatkheda, Bhatangali, Sonvati, Dhanegaon, Ramjanpur, Bhadgaon, Omarga, Bokangaon, Bindgihal, Salgara, Shivani etc, he added.

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