Chandigarh:In a bid to make Punjab greener, the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department and the Punjab State Seed Certification Institute jointly launched a campaign for planting saplings in the open vacant spaces of its offices across the state.

Dr. Gurvinder Singh, Director, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Punjab State Seed Certification Institute launched this sapling drive at Kheti Bhawan, Mohali.

On this occasion, the Director said that during the summer most of the people tried to park their vehicle under tree shade but a very few took initiative to plant a sapling. “Department of Agriculture is taking a small initiative of planting tree saplings in the open vacant spaces of its offices as a contribution in making Punjab green again. It will also encourage the employees of other departments to plant saplings around their offices”, he added.

It is worth mentioning here that the Punjab Government provides free plant saplings to the residents of Punjab through i-Haryali App from the nurseries of the Forest Department. Under this initiative, various medicinal and other plants like Behra, Pippal, Tahli, Arjun, Jamun, Mango, Lemon, Gulmohar and Bohar are being planted by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Amongst others, Agriculture Information Officer Sandeep Kumar, Chief Seed Certification Officer, Mohali Gurpal Singh, Agronomist Surinderpal Singh, Superintendent Harinder Singh and other staff were also present on the occasion.