Bhubaneswar: The "One Vehicle One Plant" initiative launched by the regional transport office (RTO), Bhubaneswar II, on July 25 has received good response with more than 5,500 saplings being distributed to the owners of new vehicles.

All automobile dealers functioning under the RTO have agreed to provide a plant sapling for each new vehicle sold for free as part of the campaign.

Regional transport officer, Bhubaneswar II, S.K. Behera said a number of people owning automobile showrooms in other cities have also extended the campaign to cities such as Angul, Balasore and Sambalpur.

"We have also created a Whatsapp group and a Facebook page for the sapling receivers to upload the pictures of the saplings," said Behera.

The RTO-II has more than 50 automobile showrooms under its jurisdiction and around 8,000 vehicles being sold every month. A transport department official said the customers buying new vehicles were being provided with saplings of champa, baula, karanj, neem, pijuli and mango.

An NGO has also been roped in for providing saplings to the dealers.

"We have been receiving calls to provide saplings regularly. We have also engaged our volunteers at the showrooms to make people aware about the campaign," said founder of Odisha Calling Foundation Debabrata Nayak.

Officials in the Odisha State Pollution Control Board said vehicular pollution accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the city's total air pollution. The number of motorised vehicles in Bhubaneswar has increased from seven lakh to 11 lakh in the past five years.

"It is not possible for us to visit the houses of the vehicle owners provided with saplings to verify whether they have indeed planted the saplings. But we have asked the automobile dealers to make the vehicle-owners aware of the campaign. Dealers have also been asked to provided saplings according to the choice of the customers," said a transport official.