A renewed drive to scale up tree plantation under the “Gandhinagar Lok Sabha – Green Lok Sabha” initiative was outlined at an organisational meeting in Ahmedabad on June 27, where leaders reviewed ongoing environmental efforts and set fresh targets for planting and improving tree survival across the constituency. The campaign, now in its seventh year, organisers said has planted more than 1.5 crore saplings over the past three years and will focus on expanding green cover and long-term care of trees.
The meeting at Circuit House was chaired by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah and attended by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, state BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, party office-bearers and elected representatives from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.
Shah emphasised that tree plantation must be treated as a collective social duty rather than a partisan exercise. “Tree plantation is not an activity of any one political party but a social responsibility of every human being,” he said, urging active participation from every household and stressing ongoing maintenance over one-off drives. “Every member of every family in the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency should take part in tree plantation and its upkeep,” he added.
Officials noted that while tree density in the constituency has increased by 11.2 percent, this gain is still inadequate in the face of rising global temperatures and environmental challenges. Shah recommended prioritising long-lived species, proposing that at least 33 percent of new plantings be such trees. He said long-living trees, though slower to mature, deliver sustained benefits-including shade, oxygen and reduced need for repeated replanting-and that a systematic planting-and-nurturing approach will strengthen ecological balance over time.
Shah appealed to citizens, educational institutions, social organisations, industry bodies, voluntary groups and political workers to map vacant local spaces suitable for plantations. He urged every individual to “plant at least one tree and take responsibility for its maintenance,” saying that coordinated community action could transform the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha into a significantly greener constituency.
Reiterating the broader environmental imperative, Shah called protection of Earth, nature and biodiversity a shared duty requiring immediate and sustained action to tackle climate change. “Nature must be utilised responsibly but never exploited,” he said, calling for urgent steps to safeguard environmental resources for future generations. IANS
Original Source: https://theshillongtimes.com/2026/06/27/gujarat-hm-amit-shah-urges-afforestation-in-gandhinagar-under-green-lok-sabha-initiative/
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Publish Date: 2026-06-27 21:17:00
