Samajwadi Party National President and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday lashed out at the Yogi Adityanath government over its plantation drive in the state saying that the environment has suffered the most ever since BJP came to power.

On the occasion of World Environment Day, Akhilesh Yadav accused the Uttar Pradesh government of making false claims about environmental protection and said the “trees have been growing only in government files”.

“In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP government runs tree plantation campaigns every year. But to date, it has not been able to give details about where and how many trees have been planted in which year during his reign, and how many saplings planted are left. In fact, the environment has suffered the most ever since BJP came to power,” PTI quoted the SP chief as saying.

Lauding the previous government under his leadership, Akhilesh said it was under the Samajwadi government that concrete steps were taken in this direction. While referring to a Guinness Book world record made during his tenure, the former chief minister highlighted that ponds were dug and green parks developed in the Bundelkhand region.

“In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP government runs tree plantation campaigns every year. But to date, it has not been able to give details about where and how many trees have been planted in which year during his reign, and how many saplings planted are left. In fact, the environment has suffered the most ever since BJP came to power,” he said.

UP govt aims to plant 30 cr saplings

On Tuesday, a senior official had said that the Uttar Pradesh government aims to plant 30 crore saplings in this year’s plantation drive beginning the first week of July and has asked district magistrates (DMs) to identify land and supply saplings for the purpose of the district forest officers (DFOs) by June 15