Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state was gearing up to enter the Guinness Book of World records with a massive tree plantation initiative scheduled for September 17.

Sarma said approximately four million members of women self-help groups from across the state will each plant two commercially viable saplings, totaling 8 million saplings.

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An additional two million, or more saplings, will be planted by individuals from various sectors, including Anganwadi workers, tea garden laborers, government officials, police and forest battalions, as well as members of the general public.

The chief minister revealed that the state government aims at breaking six existing world records related to tree plantation and create three new records during this event.

Furthermore, the Assam government plans to attempt a total of 9 Guinness World Records, including: largest spiral of saplings, largest number of saplings distributed in a day at one venue, most trees planted in 1 hour, most trees planted in 24 hours, most trees planted in 1 hour by a team of 100, largest planted tree mosaic, largest photo album of people planting trees, most pledges taken to plant trees to protect them, largest nature conservation lesson online/offline.

Through all these plantation drive the state government aims to increase the green cover of Assam from 36 to 38 per cent over five years.

The “Amrit Brikshya Andolan, 2023” mega plantation drive in Assam involves planting over 10 million seedlings of 53 commercially valuable species across the state in a single day on September 17, 2023.

This collaborative effort aims to create records and has already procured 146 lakh seedlings of these species, with 117 lakh seedlings secured through competitive bidding.

As of September 5, 2023, 6.8 million seedlings have been distributed to various Stocking Points in the state. This initiative is expected to boost the state’s Tree Economy, attracting new investments in the wood-based industry sector, potentially adding over INR 5,000 crore to the state’s economy over the next 5-10 years from the trees planted in the program.

Additionally, 4,734,465 beneficiaries have registered online through a mobile app, and incentives of Rs 100 per beneficiary will be disbursed via the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode upon planting the seedlings.

After two years, an additional incentive of Rs 200 per beneficiary will be paid upon uploading time-stamped and geotagged photographs of the surviving trees. The total cost of the entire exercise will be around Rs 47 crore.