Bhopal: Indore in Madhya Pradesh, which won the tag of cleanest city of India consecutively for six years in the annual ‘swachh’ survey by the Centre, set a goal to become ‘green city’ of the country with chief minister Mohan Yadav on Sunday launching a mission to plant 51 lakh trees in it.
Unveiling the plantation project in Indore, Mr Yadav hailed it as a novel idea to check climate change and announced that Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) and state forest department would allocate Rs ten crore each for the project.
“Swachh Indore is now heading for green Indore with the implementation of the project”, he said.
The mega plantation project, set to be launched in Indore in the rainy season, is estimated to cost Rs 25 crore.
Identification of land for the project has however emerged as the biggest challenge for the local administration.
A senior officer of Indore administration told this newspaper that around 10 lakh saplings have so far been arranged.
While 5.5 lakh saplings would be arranged from the nursery of the state forest department, Indore Municipal Corporation has made a commitment to provide 1.5 lakh saplings for the project.
Around ten lakh saplings would be arranged by Indore Zilla Parishad.
The remaining Rs 30 lakh saplings would be procured from the districts of Jhabua , Khargone and Khandwa at Rs 15 per piece.
“The private nurseries will also be approached if there would be any shortage of saplings”, Indore Smart City Development Limited Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr Divyank Singh said.
State urban development minister Kailash Vijayvargiya is the brain behind the project.
