Lucknow, Jul 5 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government is all set to set a new world record by planting 25 crore trees on Sunday in a massive plantation drive.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath kicked off the drive by planting a sapling in Kukrail reserve forest on Sunday morning.

The Chief Minister has instructed the government departments involved to ensure that social distancing is followed during the plantation drive.

Slogans like "Do gaz ki doori, mask zaroori" and "Corona harega, desh jeetega" have been put up at all plantation sites.

The state is also eyeing another record this time by planting more than 150 species of trees at two to three sites in Lucknow division. More than 26 lakh trees are being planted in Lucknow itself.

Sources in the forest department said: "A command centre has been set up at the forest department headquarters to compile the data on plantation every hour or two."

Plantation would be done at more than 8.7 lakh sites in the state and each site has been geo-tagged.

District-level committees headed by district magistrates are overseeing the plantation drive.

The beneficiaries of Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna have been provided with five saplings each as part of the drive.

The drive also aims at curbing malnourishment among women and children. To achieve the objective, one 'sahjan' tree will be planted in every rural household.

More than 2.2 crore trees are being planted on the river banks, including those of rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti, Rapti, Ghaghra, Saryu, Sharda, Tamsa, Varuna and Betwa.

The maximum number of trees -- 67 lakh -- are being planted on the banks of the Ganga in all 27 districts where the river flows by.

The forest department will plant 10 crore trees and the remaining 26 government departments will plant 15 crore trees.

--IANS

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