Lok Sabha Question No. 444 (STARRED), answered on 2017-04-05
Subject: Plantation near Railway Tracks
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: LAKHAN LAL SAHU, VIKRAM USENDI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 444 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.04.2017

## PLANTATION NEAR RAILWAY TRACKS

†*444. SHRI LAKHAN LAL SAHU: SHRI VIKRAM USENDI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Railways had fixed the target of planting five crore plants along the railway tracks;

- (b) if so, the details thereof and the number of plants planted as on date, division-wise; and
- (c) whether Bilaspur, Korba and Janjgir-Champa districts of Chhattisgarh have been covered under the above said scheme of Plantation and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI SURESH PRABHAKAR PRABHU)

(a) to (c):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  444  BY  SHRI  LAKHAN  LAL  SAHU  AND SHRI  VIKRAM  USENDI  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON 05.04.2017 REGARDING PLANTATION NEAR RAILWAY TRACKS

(a) to (c): In pursuance of Railways' commitment towards environmental  improvement  and  sustainable  development,  Railway has planned  to plant 5 crore sapling/plants by 2019-20 on railway land boundary along the railway tracks depending upon availability of resources and co-operation from the State Forest Department. To achieve  this,  Railway  has  taken  many  strategic  initiatives.  Forest Departments of the States are being involved in plantation as well as  maintenance  and  disposal  of  trees,  thus  bringing  in  the  much needed  expertise  in  afforestation.    For  this  purpose,  Ministry  of Railways  have  finalised  a  model  agreement  in  consultation  with Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC)  in January 2016 to be entered between Zonal Railways and respective State  Forest  Department  for  plantation  of  trees  on  Railway  land along  the  railway  track  and  station  yards  without  transferring  the ownership of the land in favour of State Forest Department.  As per this  Agreement, plantation along the railway track on railway land boundary can be done by Forest Department without declaring such land as protected forest and can be re-used by Railways at any time without any hindrance to Railway works/development projects, cost of  the  plantation  including  its  protection  and  maintenance  can  be borne by State Forest Department or Railway Administration or can be shared by both. The agreement has already been finalised with State Forest Department of Haryana, Punjab, Assam and Karnataka. The plantation work along the railway track has already been done under this agreement by State Forest Department of Punjab on about 73 km of land boundary by planting about 90000 saplings and State Forest Department of Haryana on about 13.71 km of land boundary by planting about 16500 saplings. Eastern Railway has also entered into an agreement with West Bengal Forest Department for undertaking plantation under Namami Gange Scheme, launched as a National Misson for Clean Ganga and offered 167.22 acres of land to West Bengal Forest Department for undertaking plantation. Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) has tied up with Local Women Self  Help  Group  for  tree  plantation  as  part  of  their  afforestation effort. Railway is also exploring the feasibility for leveraging 'Climate  Fund',  through  various  national/international  mechanisms like, Green Climate Fund (GCF) and National Adaptation Fund (NAF) for plantation. Besides this, to generate additional resources in this regard,  Railways  have  decided  that  the  expenditure  on  plantation shall be met through by making 1% lump sum provision in the works estimates for Environmental works like plantation, etc and Corporate  Social  Responsibility  (CSR)  funds  also  to  be  mobilized from  Corporates/Public  Sector  Undertakings(PSUs)  for  plantation. Zonal Railways have also been advised to involve Railway staff/their families  including  Railway  Protection  Force  (RPF)  and  contractors working for Railways for plantation through Shramdan. As a part of Railway's  effort  towards  sustainable  development,  Railway  has revived and made functional most of its water bodies, out of 1560 water  bodies,  1527  have  been  made  functional.  As  a  part  of  this effort, Railway has revived 200 year old Salarjung well at Hyderabad yielding average 2.5 lakhs litres water per day.

During  2016-17,  Railways  have  planted  around  1.22  crore saplings up to February 2017, the division wise details is as under:

| Railway            | Division    |   No. of Saplings planted (upto February, 2017) (figures in lakhs) |
|--------------------|-------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Central            | Pune        |                                                               1.23 |
| Central            | Mumbai      |                                                               0.68 |
| Central            | Solapur     |                                                               1.2  |
| Central            | Nagpur      |                                                               1.3  |
| Central            | Bhusaval    |                                                               1.65 |
| Eastern            | Sealdah     |                                                               0.51 |
| Eastern            | Asansol     |                                                               0.61 |
| Eastern            | Malda       |                                                               0.23 |
| Eastern            | Howrah      |                                                               1.06 |
| East Central       | Sonpur      |                                                               1.13 |
| East Central       | Danapur     |                                                               2.05 |
| East Central       | Dhanbad     |                                                               1.66 |
| East Central       | Mughalsarai |                                                               0.99 |
| East Central       | Samastipur  |                                                               3.95 |
| East Coast         | Waltair     |                                                               3.81 |
| East Coast         | Khurda Road |                                                               3.2  |
| East Coast         | Sambalpur   |                                                               1.52 |
| Northern           | Ambala      |                                                               1.57 |
| Northern           | Delhi       |                                                               1.3  |
| Northern           | Moradabad   |                                                               1.64 |
| Northern           | Firozpur    |                                                               1.51 |
| Northern           | Lucknow     |                                                               1.12 |
| North Central      | Allahabad   |                                                               4.41 |
| North Central      | Agra        |                                                               4.39 |
| North Central      | Jhansi      |                                                               5.79 |
| North Eastern      | Izzatnagar  |                                                               1.82 |
| North Eastern      | Luckow City |                                                               0.53 |
| North Eastern      | Varanasi    |                                                               2.21 |
| Northeast Frontier | Alipur Duar |                                                               1.16 |
|                    | Katihar     |                                                               0.97 |
|                    | Lumding     |                                                               1.41 |
|                    | Rangia      |                                                               1.22 |
|                    | Tinsukia    |                                                               2.04 |

| Railway            | Division          |   No. of Saplings planted (upto February, 2017) (figures in lakhs) |
|--------------------|-------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| North Western      | Jaipur            |                                                               1.52 |
| North Western      | Jodhpur           |                                                               1.58 |
| North Western      | Ajmer             |                                                               0.86 |
| North Western      | Bikaner           |                                                               1.05 |
| Southern           | Tiruchchirappalli |                                                               0.29 |
| Southern           | Palghat           |                                                               0.27 |
| Southern           | Madurai           |                                                               0.1  |
| Southern           | Chennai           |                                                               0.35 |
| Southern           | Trivandrum        |                                                               0.13 |
| Southern           | Salem             |                                                               0.32 |
| South Central      | Secunderabad      |                                                               3.37 |
| South Central      | Hyderabad         |                                                               1.41 |
| South Central      | Guntakal          |                                                               2.18 |
| South Central      | Guntur            |                                                               1.16 |
| South Central      | Vijayawada        |                                                               6.1  |
| South Eastern      | Adra              |                                                               1.26 |
| South Eastern      | Chakradharpur     |                                                               2.2  |
| South Eastern      | Kharagpur         |                                                               1.02 |
| South Eastern      | Ranchi            |                                                               0.6  |
| South East Central | Bilaspur          |                                                               3.88 |
| South East Central | Nagpur            |                                                               2.57 |
| South East Central | Raipur            |                                                               2.89 |
| South Western      | Hubballi          |                                                               1.15 |
| South Western      | Bengaluru         |                                                               1.4  |
| South Western      | Mysuru            |                                                               0.71 |
| Western            | Ahmedabad         |                                                               4.05 |
| Western            | Rajkot            |                                                               0.78 |
| Western            | Ratlam            |                                                               1.07 |
| Western            | Vadodara          |                                                               1.08 |
| Western            | Mumbai            |                                                               0.25 |
| West Central       | Jabalpur          |                                                               4.34 |
| West Central       | Bhopal            |                                                               1.6  |
| West Central       | Kota              |                                                               5.89 |
| West Central       | TOTAL             |                                                             122.05 |

Bilaspur,  Korba  and  Janjgir-Champa  districts  of  Chhattisgarh State  come  under  Bilaspur  Division  of  South  East  Central  Railway where 3.88 lakhs sapling/plants have been planted.

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