The Maharashtra government has ordered to constitute a committee to probe the tree plantation drive of the previous Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government.
This decision by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar comes after a few members alleged the drive was scam-driven. Pawar said the committee will be constituted by March 31 and will be given four to six months to complete the probe and submit its report.
According to reports, the previous government had undertaken a tree plantation drive aiming to plant 33 crore trees from 2014 to 2019. The then government spent over INR 429 crores on this drive.
The issue was raised by Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole during a discussion at the state Assembly on a starred question about tree plantation during Fadanvis's regime.
Initially, the question over plantation of 330 million trees during Fadnavis government’s rule was raised by Ramesh Korgaonkar, Shiv Sena’s MLA from Bhandup. Korgaonkar asked about the survival rate and the amount spent on the drive, saying many of the trees are believed to not have survived despite spending a huge amount.
Minister of state for forest Dattatrey Bharne said that the Forest department spent INR 429.78 crore on the drive implemented between 2014 and 2019. Moreover, 28.27 crore (282.7 million) trees were planted and their survival rate by October 2020 was 75.63 per cent.
Leader of opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis took strong objection to the probe, saying it was being constituted out of vengeance and to do politics over the issue. He said, generally, around 60 per cent trees from such drives survive. Here, the rate is too high against set parameters. The probe is being announced out of political vendetta.
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