Lok Sabha Question No. 866 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-04-28
Subject: Plantation of Trees along Ganga River
Ministry: WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANAGA REJUVENATION
Asked by: T. RADHAKRISHNAN, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL, KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL, RANJANBEN BHATT

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 866

ANSWERED ON 28.04.2016

## PLANTATION OF TREES ALONG GANGA RIVER

| 866.   | SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN                  | DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT   |
|--------|----------------------------------------|------------------------------|
|        | SHRI SATAV RAJEEV                      | SHRIMATI RANJANBEN BHATT     |
|        | SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO | SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE        |
|        | SHRIKUNWARPUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL     |                              |

Will the Minister of WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government proposes to plant trees in identified diverse forest areas over the next few years along Ganga River to ensure its cleanliness, if so, the details thereof;

(b)  whether the Government has identified planting of Himalayan species of vegetation along the river, if so, the details thereof along with the States to be involved therein;

- (c) the estimated cost of the project; and

(d) the time by which the said work is likely to be started and completed?

## ANSWER

## THE  MINISTER Of WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION (SUSHRI UMA BHARTI)

(a) Yes, Madam. The Government has planned to plant trees all along the Ganga covering 5 basin states namely; Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal under the ' Namami Gange' programme.

Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun has submitted a DPR on Forestry Interventions for Ganga (FIG) to this ministry in two volumes. The Volume-I deals with the main DPR while the Volume II contains State Summaries/DPRs in the context of five participating states located along the Ganga River course.

The DPR on FIG aims to contribute towards clean Ganga, particularly Anant Van and Aviral Dhara besides maintenance of ecological  and  geological  integrities  of  the  Riverscape.  The  interventions  seek  improved  forest  cover,  enhanced  forest diversity and productivity, biodiversity conservation and sustainable land and ecosystem management for the better flow of ecosystem services, sustainable livelihood and overall conservation of Ganga Riverscape.

(b)  FRI  has  designed  40  models  out  of  which  32  are  meant  for  natural,  3  for  agriculture  and  5  for  urban  landscapes plantations.  Local  Indigenous  species  including  Medicinal  plants,  Grass,  Shrubs  and  Trees  will  be  planted  through  the proposed  model.  In  Uttrakhand,  plantation  of  plants  of  medicinal  values  is  proposed.      In  rest  of  the  four  basin  states, Plantation  plan  designed  according  to  the  site  characteristics,  potential  species  for  plantation,  specific  activity  and  geospatially mapped sites.

(c) & (d) The draft DPR has projected a financial outlay of Rs. 2,293.73 Crore and a 5-year implementation. Out of this, nearly  90%  budget  allocation  has  been  provided  for  the  major  Component  (A)  i.  e.,  on  implementation  of  forestry interventions in five states of river scape at a total cost of Rs. 2,064.03 Crore.

The Draft DPR has recommended that the implementation of FIG be in two Phases:(i) the Phase I including the Project Development Phase of 12 months (2015-16) and the Project Implementation Phase of 5 years (2016-21), and (ii) Phase II (2021-26) for upscaling and replication in additional sites based on lessons learned in implementation of Phase I.