Ambikapur . It has always been said that Sal is a wild tree, which grows on its own in dense forests. It cannot be grown at other places. But these misconceptions have now been proved wrong. The officers and employees of the horticulture department of Adani Enterprises Limited, MDO of Rajasthan State Electricity Generation Corporation Limited, have not only prepared a nursery of Sal plants, but have also achieved great success in creating a new forest by growing them in the reclamation area of mines.
The horticulture department of RRVUNL and Adani Enterprises has planted more than 87 thousand sal plants in the form of mixed plantation in the last 10 years, which have grown into trees of about 20 to 30 feet height in due course of time.
The Horticulture Department informed that the mine of RRVUNL, Parsa East Kete Basen open mine project is in Udaipur tehsil of Sarguja district. Its mining work was started in the year 2012. For this, the forest department harvests some trees in the forests according to year-wise targets. There are many types of trees in the forest like Sal, Mahua, Khair, Banyan, Bija, Harra, Bahera etc., out of which Sal tree is one such tree, which grows only in forests and its wood never gets infested by termites. There is also a saying about it that Sal tree stands for 100 years and lies for 100 years, i.e. it remains safe as a tree for 100 years and as wood for 100 years.
It is noteworthy that Parsa East Kanta Basan (PEKB) mine, a five-star mine of Rajasthan State Electricity Generation Corporation Limited, awarded by the Ministry of Coal for four consecutive years, has set a new record in tree plantation. More than 11.50 lakh trees have been planted in the reclaimed area of PEKB mine with a success rate of more than 90 percent till October 2023. This is the largest tree plantation campaign ever in the mining industry of India. Apart from this, PEKB mine has planted more than 2.10 lakh trees under this campaign in the year 2023-24 under the guidance of the Forest Department.
Thus, it has created a new record of planting many times more trees than in the last 10 years, in which mainly by achieving unprecedented success in the regeneration of Sal trees, which is a very difficult process, a new dense and mixed forest has been created by planting Sal and other trees on more than 1100 acres of land. Apart from this, about 10 thousand trees with a thickness of less than 60 inches have also been transferred from the forests and replanted at the same place by a special transplanter machine imported from Germany. Out of which replanting of more than 7000 Sal trees is included.
This year, Rajasthan State Electricity Generation Corporation will maintain its enthusiastic performance by planting more than two lakh trees of different types.
The belief that the Sal tree does not grow again was changed
After studying the origin and regeneration of its seeds regularly for several days in collaboration with professors from the horticulture department of some big universities, it was discovered that the regeneration of seeds in Sal trees begins in the months of May-June. When it rains, these seeds fall on the ground and automatically start regenerating after mixing with wet soil. The company, along with the local people, started going to the forests and collecting these seeds and started growing plants by treating them in their nursery. This hard work paid off when everyone saw that plants were now starting to grow from these seeds.
A total of 43 species of plants including sal, such as Khair, Bija, Harra, Bahera, Banyan, Teak, Mahua along with many fruit trees such as mango, guava, jackfruit, papaya etc. have been prepared. These plants developed in the nursery are planted and each plant is watered through drip irrigation and grown, which is now taking the shape of a fully developed forest.
In this way, the biodiversity of this area is now returning. Many types of birds have started making their nests in this forest. Recently, bears and monkeys have alsobeen seen among the wild animals. Now the common people are also being invited to see this forest.
