Chandigarh, October 19: The massive afforestation drive undertaken by the Chandigarh Administration and other organization have resulted in sharp increase in the green cover of Chandigarh and it has become a national leader with about 30 per cent covered area under its belt.
In an attempt to strengthen this drive the Forest Department has distributed 32,840 saplings free of cost to be planted on public land. The Department has also undertaken a plantation drive to enrich the existing forests over an area of 108 hectares to improve the biodiversity of the forest.
Within the city, the Horticulture wing of the Municipal Corporation and the Engineering Department are undertaking replacement planting and gap filling.
A look at the figures tells us that up till now 159.80 hectares have been brought under the plough and 11,0912 sapling have been planted. Out of this nearly 3.73 hectares have been used during the month of September and planted with about 9,105 saplings adding to the green cover of the City Beautiful.