Bhubaneswar, July 6: The wait for the capital to breathe easy has just got longer.

Most of the promises about plantation that were made during the Van Mahotsav celebrations last July have fallen flat. In many areas either the saplings have withered because of lack of care or the plantation targets have drawn a complete blank with the authorities not having planted the required number of trees.

Examples of the authorities’ indifference can also be seen on a stretch near Bhaskareswar temple in Old Town where many saplings have disappeared from the tree guards (fence-like structures to protect trees planted on the streets). At some places solid waste has also been dumped near the guards.

Even certain stretches close to Naveen Niwas, the official residence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, have not been spared. On the median along Palaspalli Square, many tree guards have collapsed and are lying unattended on the road.

On the campus of Bhimatangi Phase-I Upper Primary School where 40 saplings were planted last year, not a single one has survived. When asked about the sheer neglect of the authorities concerned, local councillor Chhabindra Jena (ward No. 58) said the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had asked the 60 councillors to plant 100 saplings each in their respective wards.

“But nobody agreed. So, the BMC floated a tender for the plantation programme,” he said. After that the BMC handed over the plantation job to three NGOs — Ananya, Sahayata and Bakul Foundation — and fixed the rate at Rs 214 per plant.

However, councillor of ward No. 50 Ashok Singh said the NGOs that took up the plantation work never bothered about the post-plantation maintenance of the saplings or tree guards. “They didn’t care to water the plants and, as a result, 90 per cent of the saplings died. Even the ones planted during the previous Van Mahotsavs withered away due to neglect,” he said.

Hrudayballav Samantray, councillor of ward No. 30 said an NGO planted saplings on the stretch along the DAV Public School (Pokhariput), but barring a few, the rest withered without care.

Bikram Keshari Routray, environment officer of BMC, clarified that not a single NGO had been paid for last year’s plantation project.

“In the agreement, we have kept a clause that the money would be paid in instalments, that too, after analysing the survival rate of the saplings. If the organisations failed to ensure the survival of the saplings, no payment would be made to them,” he added.

Routray also added that plantation sites were selected on the recommendations of the local councillors. But though in certain pockets the soil conditions were not suitable for plantation, the local councillors still insisted that their choice of sites should be maintained as most of those fell in their respective wards.

Having failed badly in its plantation programme last year, this year the BMC has decided to hand over the work to the Odisha Forest Development Corporation (plantation division) with a post-plantation maintenance contract.

But that may not solve the problem entirely.

A major hiccup could be the decision of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to restrict plantation work only to the parks in the city. Till now, the BDA was responsible for taking up plantation work along major roads and avenues. However, with development activities such as widening of roads eating up the available space for plantation, the BDA has decided to stick to parks only.

So, only time will tell if the capital’s green initiatives are dashed again or usher new hopes.

FROM SAPLINGS TO DRIED-UP PLANTS

• Odisha government set new targets for tree plantation during Van Mahotsav last year in July, but no audit took place on the surviving or missing plants

• Many saplings have either disappeared or withered because of lack of care

• Maharashtra has the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, according to which all municipal corporations need to conduct tree census once in five years

• Such an act is missing in Odisha, because of which the state government cannot identify cases of illegal felling of trees, their height, canopy and condition

• To ensure success of plantation drives, they must be made incentive-based to encourage people to care for the trees post plantation

• On every Van Mahotsav, the state government must inform citizens about the status of the previous year's plantation