Rs 450 cr for green cover set to go down the drain

LUCKNOW: Massive plantation drive in Bundelkhand region with estimated expenditure of over Rs 450 crore by the forest department is all set to go down the drain for the simple reason that the entire exercise is being undertaken in an unplanned and unscientific manner.
"Right from chalking out the plan to plant 10 crore saplings to selection of plant species for this purpose is faulty," said a senior departmental official pleading anonymity.He said that the plan to undertake this large-scale plantation drive in the region to arrest desertification was prepared in a week or 10 days and that too in June end.
"Officials are fully aware of the fact that the plantation work was to be carried out in the months of July and August and prior to that it is mandatory to carry out soil work which normally takes a month. The plan was conceptualised in June end itself, where was the time for the soil work," asked the official.
In order to please the masters, no one could muster courage to speak out the truth and everyone preferred to go by the diktats of the political as well as the bureaucratic bosses, said another official. He said that the conditions laid down in the working plan approved by the Government of India were blatantly overlooked. To name a few, he said ��� first of all no soil work was done which is mandatory for plantation.
Secondly, choice of sapling species was such that it was anything but suited for the rock terrains of the Bundelkhand region and lastly the local factors were also not taken in account while formulating the ambitious plan.