Govt eyes 1.8 cr student force in Bengal for state-wide plantation drive

Kolkata: The state is set to roll out ‘Ekti Gaachh Maa-er Naam-e’ drive across Bengal on Friday, World Environment Day, with a target of planting 1.1 crore saplings by March 2027. The project is in alignment with the PM’s ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ national initiative that was launched in 2024.Under the project in Bengal, the forest dept plans to involve a community of 1.8 crore students across 84,000 govt-funded or aided schools and 10,000 private institutes. The schools have been directed to introduce ‘green ambassadors’ who will lead the drive on their campuses and in their neighbourhoods, as mentioned in a notice, issued by the additional chief secretaries of both school education and forest departments.According to additional principal chief conservator of forest Raju Das, the forest and environment departments are the nodal departments for the drive. Targets were set at various levels for June 5, he said. “At each district/KMC level, the target is 5,000 seedlings, 100 seedlings for block level, 200 for municipality level, 300 seedlings for borough level and 1,000 seedlings per MLA. We want to exceed the 1.1-crore target set till March 2027,” Das added.The state has also reached out to corporates to surpass the target set for Bengal.