Last year, various departments of the state government and social organisations planted 2.82 crore saplings on a single day — July 1 — and earned a place in the Limca Book of Records. Now, the government claims that 2.14 crore or 76% of them have survived.The government aims to plant four crore saplings this year and 50 crore by 2019.
Of the 2.15 crore saplings planted by the forest department, 81.70% survived, while the rest planted by other departments and social organisation had a survival rate of 65% to 70%, claimed the government.
Trees planted in Buldhana and Gadchiroli, which have dense forests, had the highest survival rates — 92.96% and 94.56%. In Mumbai’s suburbs, only 3,503 of 5,000 saplings (70.06%) survived. South Mumbai was not part of the drive owing to space constraints.
Drought-hit Marathwada recorded a survival rate of 68.79%.
In Osmanabad, Latur and Beed, which were worst hit by drought from 2013 to 2016, only 50% of the saplings survived.
“The survival rate of saplings planted in Maharashtra is usually between 40% and 45%. With the help the MGNREGA scheme and strict monitoring by the forest department, we improved it substantially,” said an official from the forest department.