The Jharkhand government will provide five units free electricity for planting and protecting a tree in an individual campus, Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced .

The decision has been taken with the aim to improve the green cover in urban areas of the state and make every individual a part of the tree plantation mission.

“Keeping in mind the concretisation of urban areas, the government will provide five units free electricity for planting and protecting each tree in an individual campus,” Soren said while speaking at the Van Mahotsab programme in Ranchi.

However, the offer will not be applicable for any plant, he said. “It should be a proper tree, which will help in the conservation of the nature in future,” the chief minister said.

This comes amid a decline in the tree cover in Jharkhand. An analysis of the Forest Survey of India’s (FSI) data suggests that tree cover has declined by 47 sq km in the state in the past decade. According to the FSI report 2021, the state’s tree cover was recorded at 2,867 sq km, 3.6 percent of the total geographical area. In 2011, it was recorded at 2,914 sq km.

The ‘tree cover’ is defined as tree patches outside recorded forest areas exclusive of forest cover, which are less than the minimum mappable area of one hectare in extent. These tree patches are generally found in urban areas, village woodlots, homestead, along roads, canals, near railway lines and as scattered trees.

Meanwhile, the state’s forest cover has increased by 744 sq km. The state’s forest cover was recorded at 22,977 sq km in FSI 2011. However, in FSI 2021, it was increased to 23,721 sq km, which is 29.76 percent of the total geographical area of the state.

The ‘forest cover’ is defined as all lands, more than one hectare in area with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent.