LUCKNOW, July 8 -- Uttar Pradesh will push its limits on Wednesday by planting 37 crore saplings in a single day, two crore more than in 2024, across all 75 districts of the state. The forest department alone completed advanced soil work at about 9000 locations a week before the drive. About 26 other departments are in the final stages of completing the work at an estimated over 1.5 lakh sites. Lucknow has 78 plantation sites. Forest officials said on average, 1600 saplings will be planted in a one hectare area. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath will plant saplings in Ayodhya and Azamgarh to mark the occasion. The mega plantation drive will begin at 6am and continue till the end of the day. "The soil work has been done at plantation locations. Also saplings have reached the plantation locations," said Deepak Kumar, mission director for the mega plantation drive. Forest and other department staff, besides volunteers, will place saplings in pits and swiftly fill the soil around the pits to make the saplings stand firm, the officer explained. Placed in biodegradable packs, the saplings need to be put inside the pits and have the roots covered with soil. "This year, we have raised the target by two crore saplings. This is because the increase in plantation in previous years gave rise to the green cover by over 3 lakh acres. Our green cover is now at 9.96% of the total geographical area and Uttar Pradesh is ranked second among states where the forest and tree cover has gone up, as per India State of Forest Report (ISFR)-2023," said Arun Kumar Saxena, U.P's forest, environment and climate change minister, on Monday. Between 2017 and 2024, more than 204.92 crore saplings were planted across the state. U.P's forest cover reached 15,045.80 sq km (6.24%), an increase of 118.43 sq km from 14,927.37 sq km (6.20%) recorded in ISFR-2021 report. The tree cover of the state was recorded at 8,950.92 sq km (3.72%) in the 2023 report while it was at 8,510.16 sq km (3.53%) in the 2021 report. The participants will include 60,182 public representatives, 3.4 crore students, 2.24 crore farmers, 13,44,558 government employees, 4,69,900 advocates, 27,270 voluntary organizations and 15,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). The forest department has 1901 nurseries and 47.27 crore saplings, the horticulture department has 146 nurseries and 44 lakh saplings. There are 484 private nurseries and 3.17 crore saplings available among others. The forest department will plant 1.14 crore saplings along roadsides. The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority will plant 250,000 saplings along state expressways and Bundelkhand Expressway (1.2 lakh saplings). Ministers will lead the campaign across all 75 districts while senior administrative officers have been designated as district nodal officers for the mega plantation drive. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath will lead the plantation drives in Ayodhya and Azamgarh, accompanied by forest minister (Independent Charge) Dr Arun Saxena and minister of state for forests KP Malik. Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak will plant saplings in Lucknow. Governor Anandiben Patel will participate in the campaign from Barabanki. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya will be in Meerut. The forest department aims to plant around 3.5 crore saplings along major rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti, Ken and Betwa. The campaign will span a 5-km stretch on either side of these rivers to enhance green cover, control pollution, conserve soil, and promote groundwater recharge. Uttar Pradesh has protected and nurtured 948 century-old trees under the Heritage Tree Adoption Scheme. These heritage trees, spanning 28 species. have been recognised for ecological, and historical significance....