Trees uprooted in the capital for roadside expansion work and for other developmental activities. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, May 24: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to take up plantation of 25,000 saplings this year in an effort to combat climate change. Last year, the civic body had distributed 5,681 saplings for plantation through 60 councillors and social service organisations.

BMC commissioner Vishal Dev said the civic body has decided to go for the ambitious plantation drive this year keeping in mind the rising temperatures and felling of trees by various agencies while carrying out development work.

“The heatwave-like condition with mercury levels going past the 40 degrees Celsius-mark has caused a lot of problem for the citizens. Hence, plantation would make a big difference in lowering the day-time temperature. We have already received UN recognition on disaster preparedness this year. Going green to reduce heatwave-related casualties can act as one of the major preventive measures,” he added.

The BMC authorities are already on the job for identifying places where the plantation programme would be executed. After the sites are identified, the officials would inform the city nodal officer on plantation so that the saplings can be provided.

“We have asked the BMC authorities to identify the places for plantation by tomorrow and inform us. There will be a coordination meeting by the state government on Friday where the annual plantation plan for the current year would be discussed. Before the final meeting, we would want to know BMC’s requirement so that we can provide the exact number of saplings to them,” said divisional forest officer (DFO), city division, Jayanta Kumar Dash, who is also the nodal officer on plantation in the city.

Talking about survival of the saplings distributed by BMC, Dash said: “The saplings are provided from our central nursery. So, they have a greater survival value and within two years the saplings can be exchanged if they fail to survive.”

But what about post-plantation care? Last year, the BMC had decided to undertaken the plantation drive in a big way. Few councillors pointed out that expect for the Badagada area, the drive was never taken seriously. Many areas in the city were not even covered.

“The post-plantation programme is vital to keep the saplings alive. The civic authorities should make officials accountable in this regard,” said plantation activist Nrupesh Nayak. BMC environment officer B.K. Routray added that as per a review meeting in the BMC, it has been discussed that after plantation, the plants would be properly looked after. “It will be our major area of concern,” he said.

Earlier, the agencies, which felled trees for development activities such as construction of roads and other civil construction work, were securing permission from the forest department. As per the new regulations issued by the state government, the departments concerned either have to plant 10 times more the number of trees they have felled or deposit the money with the city forest division so that afforestation programmes can be taken up.