Noida Authority to plant over 1.87 lakh saplings on Independence Day

The Noida Authority will plant 5,04,953 new saplings in 2019-2020 in the city, with a target of 1,87,808 on August 15 alone with the help of community participation, officials said Wednesday.

The authority has in 2018-19 planted 4,64,000 saplings, up from 1,49,504 in the previous year, the officials said.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar adminsitration will be planting nearly 7,49,000 plants this fiscal year in the district as part of the Uttar Pradesh government's efforts to improve green cover in the state.

This time around, the plantation drive will be carried out at underground and multilevel parkings also, Noida Authority's General Manager Rajeev Tyagi said.

"Seventeen areas have been identified in the city where the drive will be carried out on August 15 for 1,87,800 plantations, up from 1,04,918 on August 15 last year," he said.

Of this, 90,500 will be in Biodiversity Park in Sector 91, 12,000 in Sector 43, 10,309 at the Underground Parking in Sector 3, while 10,300 along the DSC Road, he said.

Among other areas, the drive will be carried out at the mutlilevel-parking in Sector 18, Rajnigandha Underpass in Sector 16, Ajnara Roundabout and Sectors 5, 17, 18, 23, 34, 52, 72, 150 and 155, Tyagi said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is expecting large scale participation of the public for the afforestation drive this year also with a target planting of 22.55 crore saplings in 2019-20 and 11.27 crore on August 15 alone across the state, according to an official communication earlier this year.