As Principal Secretary, Forest, VN Garg found himself unable to come to terms with the fact that Uttar Pradesh had only 9 per cent forest cover. He vowed to plant a crore of saplings in a day. He roped in school children, teachers, social workers, intellectuals and forest department personnel to meet the challenge. And July 31, 2007 was picked as the red letter day to chase this gargantuan goal. On that day, nearly every district in the state participated in the drive and a crore of saplings were planted. It was an unprecedented exercise in the state, noted for its abysmal forest cover.
The effort did not go unnoticed. After a six-month evaluation, the state government received a certificate from the publishers of the Guinness Book of World Records. Garg, now Principal Secretary, Energy, is hugely satisfied.
“The main aim of the exercise was generation of awareness among people. It has been met. It does not matter how many people actually came out to plant trees. If we have managed to bring out even a single person from a household, the drive was successful,” he says. Though it was his brainchild, he refuses to take credit for it – emphasizing that it was a team effort.
