Chhattisgarh's 'record-making' drive to plant jatropha

The Chhattisgarh government Monday claimed to have created a world record by planting at least three million saplings of Jatropha and Karanj in only 11 hours to raise awareness about the plants that are rich sources of bio-fuel.

Thousands of volunteers of the National Cader Corps (NCC), schoolchildren, village representatives, teachers and officials participated in the plantation drive in all four blocks of Chief Minister Raman Singh's home district Kawardha, spread over an area of 3,958 sq km.

Raman Singh, accompanied by Finance Minister Amar Agrawal, Industry Minister Rajesh Munat and Agriculture Minister Nankiram Kanwar, formally launched the campaign by planting a few jatropha saplings at Ramhepur village.

"The state government has launched the mega jatropha plantations drive with the sole objective to make India an energy-secure country by 2015," Raman Singh, who is using jatropha bio-fuel to power his official vehicle since May 2005, told a gathering of farmers at Ramhepur.

District collector Sonmoni Bora told IANS: "At least three million saplings of jatropha and karanj were planted in hundreds of villages, mainly on fallow land, to create a revolution for bio-fuel awareness."

Bora, who coordinated the daylong campaign, added that the number of saplings planted was a world record.suj/am

(IANS)

Viewer's Comment

Comments Not Available

More Stories