Bhubaneswar, April 30: The forest department is yet to take up the much-hyped plantation audit for saplings following plantation drives the city.

The audit, proposed by former chief conservator of forests Priyanath Padhi at the state-level Van Mahotsav celebration on the campus of Nayapalli High School in the city on June 17 last year, was supposed to be executed by an independent body so that the claims made by different agencies on plantation could be cross-checked.

It was supposed to have been completed by December last year.

While awards were also proposed for efficient planting agencies, less successful ones were to be asked not to be involved in the plantation campaign because, on an average, various of them were spending Rs 8 on a sapling and the state government could not tolerate wastage of saplings.

Besides the cost of saplings, the programme also required maintenance that included fencing, watering and routine inspection. The planters would also have to take care of the saplings for at least after plantation work is over.

Sources said during the last four financial years —2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 — the city had added over 12.67 lakh saplings. Three lakh saplings were planted in and around Bhubaneswar last year alone.

Divisional forest officer, Bhubaneswar, Jayanta Kumar Das, said: “By plantation audit, we mean survival rate of the planted saplings. A proposal was made by the College of Forestry of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) last year and it is now under consideration of the department.”

College of Forestry dean M.M. Hossain said: “We had submitted a proposal to the forest department around six months ago for preparing a complete database on old trees, new plantation, types of saplings to be planted in specific locations according to soil and rainfall data and space available in and around the city. Last, but not the least, the survival rate of each agency involved in the plantation work was also to be assessed.”

Hossain, however, added that the forest department had not got back though it was a unique project to be executed by the faculty members, researchers and students of the College of Forestry.

The plantation audit proposal by OUAT would be the first of its kind project in the state.

Principal chief conservator of forests J.D. Sharma said: “We should not call it an audit because that is not possible in plantation. We have a yardstick that says above 80 per cent survival rate is excellent, below 80 but more than 60 per cent is moderate and less than 60 per cent is poor.”

Staff shortage is a major concern with nearly 50 per cent grass-root level workers retiring. Consequently, the survival rate identification and inspection of individual planting sites could become a difficult task for the department to execute.

“We are depending on the geographic information system (GIS)-based mapping to know the growth and survival of the plantations in various localities under the divisional forest officers,” Sharma said.

A senior forest official said: “Perfectly monitored plantation data generated through GIS with the photograph of previous years can provide better insight into the success of the plantation programmes.”