Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said competition should be there in taking care and growing the plant saplings rather than the sheer number of saplings planted.
Initiating the sapling planting on the Koteshwar-Kalanki section on the occasion of the National Afforestation Day here today, he said, “We should take care of the plants that we have planted like our own offspring. The competition now should be on taking care of the plants.”
PM Oli planted a peach plant on the Koteshwar road side occasion.
The government is marking the 14th of Nepali month Asar as the National Afforestation Day from this year.
PM Oli said in the programme that the Afforestation Day programme was not only that of the government but of the non-governmental organisations and individuals as well.
“Our ancestors had discovered the relations between plants and humans very long time back. They (the ancestors) used to take care of the plants learning from practice the religious, environmental and biological usefulness of plants. We should also emulate this in the present,” he said.
As the PM said although several places are called forest area, there is no real forest in these places and such places needed to be really turned into forested areas. He said that the government has the goal of planting maximum 50 million plants in the coming fiscal year.
Minister for Forests and Environment Shakti Bahadur Basnet said saplings have been planted for protecting and conserving the environment for the sake of economic and social development.
According to him, the plants planted on the road side will help enhance the beauty of the city and control the pollution.
He said 317 local levels were still devoid of forests and these would be turned into greenery within the current fiscal year itself. The government has started the afforestation from Koteshwar to Kalanki coinciding with the National Afforestation Day.
Deputy Director General of the Department of Forest and Soil Conservation, Dr Rajendra KC said around 2,700 plants would be planted by the coming fiscal year. He said the metropolitan city and the ward office concerned would look after the plants planted on the road side while the plants planted in front of the people’s houses would be taken care of by the locals.
Also on the occasion, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Finance Minister Dr Yubaraj Khatiwada, Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lalbabu Pandit, Minister for Land Management Padma Kumari Aryal and other dignitaries planted saplings on the side of the newly rebuilt road.
Meanwhile, the Youth Association Nepal has planted about 800 tree saplings at Ekantakuna of Lalitpur today on the occasion of the National Afforestation Day, association coordinator Ram Prasad Sapkota said.
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