Treeless ‘green drive’ costs state Rs 148.87 lakh

The RTI reply mentions the “total cost of tree plantation” in the FDAs at Rs 148.87 lakh,but not a single sapling was planted in Valsad (South),Dahod,Surat and Kutch-Bhuj in 2003-2004; in Vadodara,Kutch-Bhuj,Surendranagar,Jamnagar,Gandhinagar,Mehsana and Kheda in 2004-2005; and in Vadodara,Rajkot,Junagadh and Bhavnagar in 2005-2006.

The project details of Rajkot (2005-2006) show that Rs 48.23 lakh were spent,not on planting new saplings,but on starting nurseries and maintaining the standing trees. “The FDA and Joint Forest Management schemes cannot be analysed through data stretching over a short period of time because it takes at least a year,even 18 months,to prepare a sapling for plantation,” said R V Ashari,Additional Principal Conservator of Forests,Gujarat.

He added that like any other government scheme,progress reports and accounts determine the time and amount of money released. These reports are,however,not always the first priority of villagers,not the least because they do not have much idea behind such processes,he said.

Due to these delays,funds may be released during dry seasons when there is no point in planting new trees. So,many end up using them for other things in the scheme like maintenance of old plantations or nurseries for the next year,Ashari added.

Another official,on condition of anonymity,however,did not rule out the possibility of “shady” circumstances leading to the misuse of funds,although this does not “normally happen”.

“More officials should be stationed in these areas to make sure that the accounts are updated on time,and also to check on the possibilities of muscle-men diverting funds so that the villagers can own the programme,” he added.