Lucknow, Jun 20 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will launch a plantation campaign with a difference in July.

Amid the ongoing pandemic, concerns about people's health is increasing and the campaign will lay special emphasis on medicinal and nutritious plants to help build up the immunity system of the common man.

According to the Forest Department officials, one and a half dozen species of medicinal and aromatic plants such as dahujan, amaltas, arjun, neem, kadamba, ashok and hibiscus will be planted as part of the campaign. Their total number will be close to 418 lakh.

Besides, the state government has set a target of planting about three dozen species of medicinal and nutritional plants including among others bael, amla (gooseberry), kaitha, jamun (java plum), bahera and harr.

The total number of these plants, which are rich in medicinal properties, will be 2,82,05,994.

Nutritional plants will also include custard apple, jackfruit, lemon, lasoda, fig, sycamore, mahua, mango, mulberry, jungle jalebi, guava, pomegranate, tamarind, plum, kinnow and papaya.

The government has set a target of planting 30 crore saplings this season.

The Forest Department is its nodal agency while 26 other departments are also cooperating in this campaign. The departments have been given the target to plant a total of 19.20 crore saplings, while the Forest Department will plant the remaining 10.80 crore saplings.

As many as 42.17 crore saplings have been prepared in 1,813 nurseries of the Forest Department, keeping in mind the agro-climatic conditions of all the districts in order to ensure timely availability of plants as per demand.

Apart from this, the Silk and Horticulture Departments have also prepared saplings in their nurseries.

The Forest Department will provide saplings to government departments, various court premises, farmers, institutions, individuals, private and government schools, Central government undertakings, local bodies, railways, defence, industrial units and cooperatives for free as before.

To ensure transparency, the departments that will plant saplings will also get the geo tagging of their respective areas done.

The Yogi Adityanath government has planted a total of 60,24,46,551 saplings of different species so far.

Both, forest cover and tree cover, have increased in Uttar Pradesh in the last four years due to record plantation.

According to the State Forest Report 2019 of Forest Survey of India, there has been an increase of 127 km in the forest cover in Uttar Pradesh as compared to 2017.

According to the report, the tree cover of Uttar Pradesh is 3.05 percent as compared to the national average of 2.89 per cent.