Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Planting trees is a noble cause, seeing that they should survive is also important. Whopping 40-50 per cent trees do not survive in Nagpur district after annual tree plantation. Irregular watering, animals eating up plants and excessive heat are the reasons behind the 50-60 per cent survival ratio of plants.
In addition, Forest officials pointed out shortage of funds as one of the major reasons behind dying of plants. “Shortage of funds after outbreak of Covid-19 is one of the major reasons behind the drop in survival ratio,” said senior official Geeta Nannaware of the Social Forestry Wing of State Forest Department.
According to statistics, a total of 15,000 samplings were planted in 2016-17. Of them, 50.78 per cent of plants survived till May 2021. In 2017-18, 72,000 samplings were planted and 56.16 per cent survived till May 2021. Survival percentage for 1,91,496 saplings planted in 2018-19 was 59.77 per cent recorded in May this year. Whopping 10,74,660 saplings were planted in 2019-20 in Nagpur district under the ambitious 33 crore tree plantations drive across the State. The scheme was initiated by the then State Forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar. Of these 10,74,660 planted trees, only 55 per cent survived till May 2021.
The forest official said that various plants with different stages of growth have been raised at 19 nursery centres in the Nagpur district. They have been provided with the necessary compost for plantation, she said and added that the department also takes up plantation drive along key roads through labourers and school students.
The Forest official said that maintenance of trees is the most important factor for survival of plnts. “We take care of the plants for the next three years after plantation. For that, a guard is being deployed at plantation sites. As per the norm, one guard needs to be deployed for a 2 km area. Due to shortage of funds, we are deploying one guard for three sites. Now, its become a hard task for the guard to take care of trees planted in such a large area of 6 km,” she said. The guards are tasked to provide protection to the plants from animals. In many cases, the Department covers trees with tree guard cover which saves the plants from animals, she said. “We are focusing on increasing the survival ration of plants,” she further said.
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