Assam Govt to plant 1 cr saplings on Sept 17, aims 9 Guinness World Records

Guwahati (Assam) [India], August 29 (ANI): The Assam government has taken an initiative aimed at planting over 1 crore commercially viable saplings across the state by individuals from various walks of life on September 17, and as part of the exercise, the state government will also attempt to make nine Guinness World Records.

“On September 17, around 40 lakh members of women self-help groups from across the State would be planting two commercially-viable saplings each, taking the total to 80 lakh. The rest (20 lakh or more) would be planted by people belonging to various walks of life such as anganwadi workers, tea garden workers, government officials, police and forest battalions and members of the general public of the state,” said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“Saplings would be available at distribution centres that would be set up for the purpose. Those who register themselves with the Amrit Brikshya Andolan app/portal and upload geo-tagged photographs of them planting the saplings would be credited with an amount of Rs 100 in their bank account. If the sapling planted on September 17 manages to survive three years, the concerned individual would be paid an additional Rs 200,” CM Sarma added. 

The Assam Chief Minister also said that, next year, the state government would target planting of 3 crore commercially-viable saplings while in 2025, the aim would be to plant 5 crore saplings.

According to the Assam government, a total of 9 Guinness World Records will also be attempted as part of the exercise. And the attempts are: largest spiral of saplings; largest number of saplings distributed in a day at one venue; most trees planted in 1 hour; most trees planted in 24 hours; most team planted in 1 hour by a team of 100; largest planted tree mosaic; largest photo album of people planting trees; most pledges taken to plant trees to protect them; largest nature conservation lesson online/offline.

The state government said that, there is 1.39 crore seedlings provisioned and stocking point coordinators also finalized.

Earlier on August 2, Assam Chief Minister  Himanta Biswa Sarma launched the Department of Forest and Environment’s Amrit Brikshya Andolan web portal application and the Wood-based Industry (WBI) registration web portal, along with the theme song for the Amrit Brikshya Andolan.
Referring to the launch of the Amrit Brikshya Andolan web portal/mobile app as a first step towards the target of 1-crore sapling plantation on September 17, the Assam Chief Minister said that, Amrit Brikshya Andolan would provide a major boost to the State’s green economy.

Stating that rampant destruction of forests across the world as one of the major contributing factors behind global warming, Chief Minister  Sarma exuded confidence collective initiatives such Amrit Brikshya Andolan would be Assam’s contribution towards the fight against climate change.