Bhubaneswar: The Forest and Environment department has raised a record 15 crore seedlings for massive plantation drive under Sabuja Odisha Mission this year. The feat was achieved despite the prevailing pandemic situation, said the department sources.
Last year, the state was able to raise only 5.50 crore seedlings. The government has set a target to distribute 5 crore seedlings this year, out of which about 2 crore have already been distributed during this rainy season so far, Bikram Keshari Arukha said here, Wednesday.
The government had undertaken plantation in 68,358 hectare during 2019. However, the plantation target has been doubled to 1.3 lakh hectare this year, he said.
Due to successful execution of forest fire prevention and management measures and with immense support of the field functionaries, the number of forest fire incidents has come down to 11,088 during 2020 fire season against 19,787 incidents last year, Arukha said.