The Uttar Pradesh government set a Guinness world record for maximum distribution of saplings from one point by distributing 76,824 saplings in eight hours from Parade Grounds near the banks of Yamuna and Ganga rivers at Prayagraj on Friday.
The previous record was held by the state of Maharashtra for distribution of 32,000 saplings from one point.
The UP government also achieved its target of planting 22 crore saplings in one day across the state by crossing the mark at 4:56 pm under its ‘Vriksharopan Mahakumbh’ campaign that kicked off at 9 am on Friday.
A departmental record of planting more than five crore saplings in one hour was also set on the occasion. The tree plantation campaign was still in progress at the time of filing this report.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also announced that 25 crore saplings would be planted next year.
In the first hour of the ‘Vriksharopan Mahakumbh’ on Friday, 5,66,52,710 saplings had been planted. At 11 am, the count was 7,41,56,205, at 12 noon it was 11,97,39,717, at 1 pm 14,18,67,063, at 2 pm 16,44,12,648, at 3 pm 18,06,62,307 and at 4 pm 20,00,58,234 saplings.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who planted a sapling of ‘bargad’ (Banyan) at the Jaiti Khera village, announced that next year the government would plant 25 crore saplings on a single day.
