New Delhi. The Yogi government will promote organic farming and afforestation on a large scale in its acquisition area in order to make the Ganga, which is considered to be holy, salvation in Indian tradition, uninterrupted, clean and pollution-free. The government plans to encourage organic farming within a radius of 10 km on both the banks of the 27 districts through which the Ganga passes in the state. Such farming in which chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides are replaced by completely organic products for increasing the yield and for timely protection of crops so that the poison of chemical fertilizers and pesticides does not dissolve in the Ganges through leaching leakage.
This process has started from Yogi Sarkar-1 itself. In 4784 clusters where 175000 farmers are doing organic farming in 95680 hectares, organic farming is being done in 63080 hectares in 3309 clusters under Namami Ganga Yojana. The number of farmers associated with this farming is 103442. If seen in this way, the maximum area of organic farming is from the Gangetic plains only. This area of the Indo-Gangetic plain is one of the most fertile land in the world. That is why in the Organic Agriculture Kumbh organized by the Organic Farming Association of India in November 2017 at the India Expo Center and Mart, Greater Noida, experts had recommended that the Gangetic plains be reserved for organic farming. Since the soil of this region gets changed due to floods every year, there is a lot of potential for organic farming in the entire region. This is the reason that in Yogi Sarkar-2, organic farming will be expanded in all the districts along the banks of the Ganges.
In this sequence, Yogi Sarkar-2 has set a target of afforestation in 6759 hectares along the banks of the Ganges in the next six months. For this, 503 places have been selected out of the districts through which the Ganges passes. In order to increase the greenery in the acquisition area of the Ganga, the government has already planned intensive plantation of the Ganga forest, the Ganges pond and not only the Ganges, but also the tributaries of the Ganges and the banks of relatively polluted rivers. This will not only increase the greenery, but will also remove the pollution of related rivers in a natural way. Also, by stopping the erosion, the problem or severity of floods in those areas will also be reduced.
It is to be known that most of the area in the Gangetic plains is in Uttar Pradesh itself. The total length of the Ganges including Bangladesh is 2525 km. Out of this, the distance of 2971 and 1140 kilometers of India and Uttar Pradesh respectively is covered by the river Ganges. Altogether, river Ganga passes through 28 districts of the state, Bijnor, Bandayu, Amroha, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Kanpur city, Kanpur Dehat, Fatehpur, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Ghazipur etc.
Ganga forest will be developed in all the districts along the banks of the Ganges
Ganga forests are to be planted in all the districts along the banks of the Ganges. It has also started in some places like Kasganj. Efforts are that these forests should be multi-useful and plants of traditional to rare and medicinal species should be planted in them according to the agro-climatic zone of the district concerned. A similar hypothesis has been made about plantation on the banks of multi-purpose ponds being built on the banks of other rivers including the Ganges. One of the objectives is environmental protection. Other benefits arising out of this would be bonuses.