Nagpur: After walking over a kilometre inside the Ambazari reserve forest area near Nagpur University campus, one reaches a plain ground. Some 18 months ago, freshly planted saplings would have greeted you at the spot but today what remains are rows of pits with wilted saplings surrounded by red sandstones.
With a committee of experts likely to 'dig up' the Nagpur Improvement Trust's (NIT) plantation scam, TOI did a ground reality check of some of the plantation sites, only to find 'dug up' pits with no sign of saplings. NIT had planted 1.60 lakh saplings at these sites at the cost of Rs18.68 crore over a period of four years.
In November 2015, NIT had done plantation on the forest land in Ambazari. When TOI had visited the area last year, many saplings were found to be damaged due to uncontrolled cattle grazing. Slamming NIT and its plantation agency BVG India for poor site selection, environment experts back then had demanded protection of saplings.
A spot visit on Sunday revealed that their fears were well-founded. TOI could not find a single sapling that had survived. Locals said that the saplings had died several months ago.
Almost similar scene is at Mihan, where NIT had planted maximum number of saplings — 13,000 in 2015. To the north of the W Building, housing Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) office, one can see a row of wilted stems along the road. These were once saplings planted by BVG. On the back side of the W Building, a few saplings have survived but not even stems remain of most of them.
On the road stretch from University Campus Square to Ambazari lake, NIT had done row plantation of Neem and other species. TOI could hardly spot three-four saplings. Locals have dumped plastic waste and other garbage at the spots where the saplings had been planted.
At none of these sites, the plantation agency used tree guards or took any other safety measure to protect the saplings. As per the agreement between NIT and BVG India, the latter was supposed to take care of the saplings for two years from the date of plantation. But at most of the sites, the saplings did not survive even for an year.
Saplings have grown into trees at some sites like Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research, Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC) where cattle grazing menace was absent. But such sites are a rarity.
While NIT claims that the survival rate of its plantations is 47%, a source in the civic agency told TOI that the figure was far lower. BJP MLC Girish Vyas has alleged that 1.60 lakh saplings had not been planted and the number was around 40,000.
