The Times of India              13.08.2013

AMC's tree plantation drive crawls towards target

AURANGABAD: Despite the civic body's claims of having planted more than 30,000 saplings in the city during the current season, sources said that most of the saplings were uprooted due to the neglect of the municipal body. Sources also said that the tree plantation drive was moving at a snail's pace and would miss its 1.5 lakh-saplings target.

However, Vijay Patil, AMC's garden superintendent, on Monday claimed the most of the civic body's plantations were intact. "The civic body is responsible for the newly planted 18,000 saplings which are quite intact," he said. But when asked to comment on the survival rate, he said the civic body was yet to take stock of its plantations. "We are now focusing on planting more trees," he said.

"In order to minimise losses, we are planting saplings in safe areas like gardens, parks and other spaces with fencings," he said. But, saplings can also be seen on many open places like footpaths and road divers without tree guards. A large number of damaged plants can also be seen near the Central bus stand, Baba Petrol pump area, etc.

Patil said that AMC had distributed more than 12,000 saplings to individuals, schools, colleges and NGOs. "We expect people to take care of planats because the civic body cannot provide protection," he said, adding that the civic body might not achieve its target but it would reach up to a level of 70,000 to 80,000 in the current season.

Patil once again stressed the fact that the civic body was yet to receive a modern 'hole digger' machine to speed up its drive. The civic body had placed the order in early June and was expecting the machines in the first week of July. It is learnt that the accounts department has not yet cleared the payment and hence the machinery has not been dispatched.

The machine has a capacity of digging 400-500 holes everyday. "It can be mounted on a tractor and operated by a person. Manually one worker can dig only 15-20 holes a day. With the help of these machines, we will be able to plant over 1,000 saplings a day," Patil added.