Govt. intends to increase green cover in State to 50% by 2047: Satya Kumar Yadav

Minister for Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare Satya Kumar Yadav on Thursday said that the State government is aiming to increase the green cover in Andhra Pradesh from the current 29% to 50% by 2047 under the Swarnandhra 2047, through massive sapling plantation programmes.
After planting saplings at Kotturu Tadepalli on the outskirts of Vijayawada on the occasion of World Environment Day, the Minister said that the government has launched a programme as part of which one crore saplings would be planted.
Urging everyone to take part in the programme, the Minister said that a tree provides oxygen worth ₹10 lakh during its lifespan of 50-100 years. He said it is because of the ecological imbalance that the world is reporting natural calamities such as floods, earthquakes and etc.
Later, NTR District Collector G. Lakshmisha said at the district level too efforts are being made, in coordination with the departments of Forest and Panchayati Raj, to increase the green cover from 11% to 33% by planting 2,60,000 saplings within a year on the premises of government offices, Anganwadis, on either side of the roads, among other places.
Mylavaram MLA Vasantha Venkata Krishna Prasad also spoke on the occasion.
In another event organised by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) at Loyola College Road in the city, East constituency MLA Gadde Rammohan emphasised the need for reducing plastic usage to keep cities clean. He encouraged the public to shift to alternatives like cloth, jute, and paper bags.
Municipal Commissioner H.M. Dhyanachandra said that the corporation has already developed 27 kilometers of avenue plantation in the city. As part of the Environment Day initiative, the corporation aims to plant 10,160 saplings within the next three months, extending the plantation stretch to 55 kilometers, he said.
The Commissioner said 'Fabric In - Plastic Out' stalls have been set up at prominent locations such as Sri Kanaka Durga Temple, the flower market, Kaleswara Rao Market, VMC main office, Kedareswarapet fruit market, Sambamurthy Road Rythu Bazaar, and Patamata Rythu Bazaar. At these stalls, citizens are encouraged to exchange their plastic bags for eco-friendly alternatives like cloth bags.

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