Welcome your new born by planting 100 trees

BIJOY GURUNG

CM launches ‘Mero Rukh Mero Santati’, targets 8 lakh saplings plantation annually
GANGTOK,: Every time a child is born in Sikkim, 100 trees will be planted by their parents from now on. They will be assisted by Forest department and other concerned government agencies.
Given the average 8,000 child births annually in the State, the Sikkim government is targeting to plant about 8 lakh saplings to commemorate these child births during the special plantation drives to be held every year starting this monsoon.
Chief Minister PS Golay on Thursday launched this unique green initiative of the Forest department titled ‘Mero Rukh Mero Santati’ (my child, my legacy) during a programme at Manan Kendra here.
As per the voluntary initiative, the Forest department will be providing the saplings to the parents and assisting them in planting these saplings at their private fields and designated forest areas or community land for those who do not have their own spare land.
Before this, the new parents have to do registration with the special ‘Mero Rukh Mero Santati’ cell of the Forest department. Registration can be done online or forms can be made available to those living in villages.
ASHA, Anganwadi workers, gram panchayats, urban local bodies and Forest staff will be assisting the new parents for registration and plantation.
The Chief Minister shared that the plantation under this initiative will be done in months of June and July. “Babies are born every day but we cannot take up plantation in dry season or winter. Registration will be done first once the child is born and during the rainy season, plantation will be taken up by the parents and Forest department,” he said.
In his launching address, the Chief Minister also proposed making ‘Mero Rukh Mero Santati’ registration vital for getting important documents like domicile certificates, marriage certificates and employment cards.
“Let us make registration for tree plantation important. We can connect this registration to some important documents like marriage and domicile certificates. This is for a good cause. We will not see the immediate results but in coming decades, the results will be wonderful. It is a step towards making Sikkim a more greener, carbon negative and climate resilient State,” said Golay.
Meanwhile, the routine plantation drives under World Environment Day and other green measures of the State government will also continue.
At the programme, the Chief Minister along with Forest minister Karma Loday Bhutia unveiled the logo and released the release of posters, brochures and a theme song of the initiative. Token saplings were also presented to the new parents on the occasion.
The Forest minister in his speech highlighted the key aspects of this initiative including convergence with other departments like Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Welfare and Rural Development.
State chief secretary VB Pathak reiterated that to ground this initiative various departments of the Government of Sikkim will need to converge to facilitate seamless service to the new parents right from enrollment to planting and after care. ASHA, Anganwadi workers, gram panchayats, urban local bodies and forest staff will need to facilitate the onboarding of the parents, he said.
Forest secretary Pradeep Kumar said this revolutionary initiative wants to strengthen the connection between parents, children and nature by planting trees to commemorate child birth. Watching the tree grow, as the baby grows, is a symbolic way of commemorating their arrival and is good for the planet as well, he said adding that such participation by the parents will also ensure better survival for the saplings.