Bhubaneswar, June 8: The civic body will resume its Go Green drive to increase the city's green cover and install tree-guards to protect the plants this monsoon.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will distribute about 3,500 saplings among all its councillors for plantation in various wards.

BMC environment officer Kapilendra Sethi told The Telegraph that they were procuring tree-guards while the saplings will be collected from the Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) in the next phase. "We have procured 1,000 tree-guards and the rest will be procured by mid-June," said Sethi.

He said that major cost while undertaking the plantation drives lay with the procurement of the tree-guards.

"The trees will not survive without the tree-guards. We are buying steel tree-guards instead of iron ones so that they don't gather rust," said the officer, adding that each guard would cost Rs 1,200.

The plants will be procured at a cost of Rs 5 lakh. The BMC will distribute saplings of Jamun, Neem, Karanj, Patkoi, Almond and a few other fruit-bearing trees to councillors.

"We have already planted many trees in open spaces and medians in the past of which about 90 per cent still survive. We have a dedicated team that monitors the plantation drives and ensures the survival of trees," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

Environmentalists welcomed the move.

"Trees help maintaining the balance in the eco-system. The civic body should also make an effort to conserve the water bodies and maintain greenery in open spaces," said environmentalist Sailabala Padhi.

The civic body launched the Go Green drive during 2005-06, before discontinuing it abruptly in 2010-11. Till 2010-11, it had planted about 51,749 trees as part of the programme in collaboration with individuals, institutions and voluntary organisations. The drive resumed in 2015-16 only to be stopped again in 2016-17. During 2015-16, the civic body had planted about 3,000 trees in various parts of the city.#