(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?
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 geo-spatially 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.
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