Chhattisgarh CM launches campaign to protect greenery around Bastar's religious sites

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], June 22 : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has launched a drive to protect greenery around Bastar's religious sites. The state government will launch a special tree-planting campaign at these sacred sites, with the active involvement of local tribal communities.
"Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has initiated an effort to preserve the greenery around the centres of faith in Bastar. The state government will launch a special campaign to plant trees around these sacred sites in the region, with active involvement from tribal communities," as per a press release.
It's worth noting that tribal communities and other traditional forest dwellers hold immense faith in water, forests, land, and their places of worship. Trees around the Dev Gudi and Mata Gudi sites have significance as deities. There is a tradition of preserving the trees and plants located at these faith centres.
In this plantation drive, trees will be planted at approximately 7,055 Devgudi-Matagudi sites and 3,455 sites having forest rights recognition certificates across the Bastar region, covering a total area of 2,607.200 hectares. Besides Devgudi and Matagudi, trees will also be planted around ancient monuments and other significant sites.
The initiative will include fruit-bearing and shade-providing plants such as neem, mango, jamun, karji, and amaltas, along with other species suggested by the villagers.
"The Bastar Commissioner has developed a strategy to plant 562,000 saplings across seven districts in the Bastar region. The Chief Executive Officers of the zila panchayats in each of the seven districts have been designated as nodal officers for the tree-planting initiative," as per the release.
The Commissioner instructed the officials to invite village heads, Baiga, Sirha, Perma, Manjhi, Chalki, Guniya, Gayta, Pujari, Patel, Bajniya, Atpahariya, and public representatives on the day of the planting. He set a goal to complete the plantation work by July 15, 2024, with the support of the Forest Department. Additionally, he instructed the collectors to monitor the progress of the tree-planting efforts.
"It should be noted that 3,455 community forest rights certificates have been issued to various gram sabha in the name of deities under Section 3(1)(5) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. This is to protect and promote centres of faith and living traditions established in the Bastar division, such as Matagudi, Devgudi, Ghotul, ancient memorials, and places of worship," the release stated.
Additionally, 3,600 Devgudi, Matagudi, ancient memorials, and Ghotul sites located in non-forest areas have been recorded in the revenue records.