GURUGRAM: The state pollution board and forest department, jointly with the civic authorities of Gurugram, carried out a plantation drive in a green belt in Sector 44 on Monday to observe the International Day of Forests celebrated across the world on March 21. The theme of this year’s celebration is “forests and sustainable production and consumption”.
The drive, aimed at increasing the green cover in the city, incorporated the Miyawaki model developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, whose methods have been gaining popularity across India. The model is heavily dependent on enhancing soil quality by first digging up the earth and then pouring in large amounts of compost and natural material such as rice husk into the ground, which helps retain water. Saplings or seeds are then scattered close together, forcing plants to compete with one another for space and sunlight, resulting in a green cover that can be up to 30 times denser and ten times taller than traditional plantations. The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram(MCG), the forest department of Haryana and the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) conducted the drive with the support of the RJ Foundation, an NGO focusing on education and youth development programmes.
