Guwahati, Sept 17: Coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, Assam attempted to set a new Guinness record by planting one crore saplings in two hours across the state on Sunday.
The government has termed the plantation drive Amrit Briksha Andolan.
Around 40 lakh members of women’s self-help groups from across the state have participated in planting two commercially viable saplings each, taking the total to 80 lakh.
The rest, 20 lakh or more, were planted by people belonging to various walks of life, such as Anganwadi workers, tea garden workers, government officials, police and forest battalions, and members of the general public of the state.
Amrit Briksha Andolan is aimed at heralding a tree-based economy in the state. As part of the exercise, nine different Guinness World Records were attempted in the past week.
Taking to X (earlier known as Twitter), Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Today I joined the #AmritBrikshya Jan Andolan to plant 1 crore saplings, a citizen-led movement to build a tree economy and a clean environment, and celebrate the birthday of a true champion of the Green Planet, Adarniya Shri Narendra Modi ji”.
Assam creates history!
Today I joined the #AmritBrikshya Jan Andolan to plant 1 cr saplings, a citizen-led movement to build a tree economy, a clean environment and celebrate the birthday of a true champion of the Green Planet – Adarniya Shri Narendra Modi ji. @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/EmfMRd7YVv
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) September 17, 2023
In the recent past, Assam has lost 670 square kilometres of forest cover between 2011 and 2022 and 3060 square kilometres of tree cover in the last 20 years.
According to government, the pursuit of Guinness World Records isn’t the main objective, the idea is to create a greener and healthier environment for the generations to come.
The state government has also said that by focusing on planting 1 crore commercial tree saplings within the span of two hours, Assam strives to underscore the vital role that trees play in building a sustainable economy.
