Prepare digital land bank for tree plantation drive: Latur collector tells officials

Latur collector Bharat Bastewad has asked the district administration to prepare a digital land bank for tree plantation activities under the first phase of the Maharashtra governments ambitious 300 crore saplings drive to be implemented till 2047, an official said on Thursday.In a meeting on Wednesday, he asked the administration to undertake micro-level planning for effective implementation of the large-scale afforestation initiative, the official added.The state government has set a target of planting 300 crore trees across Maharashtra during the 2026-2047 period.

Latur collector Bharat Bastewad has asked the district administration to prepare a ''digital land bank'' for tree plantation activities under the first phase of the Maharashtra government's ambitious 300 crore saplings drive to be implemented till 2047, an official said on Thursday.

In a meeting on Wednesday, he asked the administration to undertake micro-level planning for effective implementation of the large-scale afforestation initiative, the official added.

''The state government has set a target of planting 300 crore trees across Maharashtra during the 2026-2047 period. Officials must immediately identify and survey suitable lands in the district, including government office premises, open spaces, roadside stretches, grazing lands, barren lands and private agricultural lands of farmers willing to participate voluntarily in the plantation drive,'' the collector said.

''Detailed data of all plantation-suitable land parcels in the district should be collected between May 25 and June 5 this year and a GIS-based digital land bank should be prepared. After the digital land bank is finalised, plantation targets would be allocated to concerned government departments and agencies based on their respective jurisdictions,'' he added.