India, March 19 -- As part of environmental sustainability and community development initiatives, the forest department will undertake large-scale fruit-bearing tree plantation project in Pune district in collaboration with representatives from zilla parishad, Pune, and Loha Foundation. The trees will be planted in 303 model schools across the district, a senior forest official said.

As a symbolic start to the project, the first sapling was presented to Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Southern Command by NR Praveen IFS, chief conservator of forests (CCF) and Ajit Pisal, agriculture development officer (ADO), zilla parishad, Pune during a cyclothon event recently.

Praveen said, "The plantation project ...