GURUGRAM: ‘Paudhagiri’, a campaign to increase the green cover in the state, was kicked off by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday.The campaign intends to rope in 22 lakh students across the state, studying in classes VI to XII, to plant a sapling and subsequently look after it. Gurugram is the first district to start this campaign.As part of the initiative, 3,100 students from various schools of the district participated in the plantation drive CM Khattar flagged offtrucks and trolleys that carried saplings to the schools of the district from Tau Devi Lal stadium.While interacting with students gathered at the stadium, the CM said,“Each student will get a sapling from the forest department and can plant it either in the courtyard of their house, a park or their school field or at any open space available in their proximity.” He also encouraged them to name the plant after a prominent personality of their choice, “Maybe after a freedom fighter or an ancestral family member,” he said.Khattar said in every six months, the student will be required to upload a selfie with their plant on the Paudhagiri app and he or she would be given an incentive of Rs50 in every six months from the government for the next three years. Thus, the student will get Rs300 in the next three years for looking after the sapling planted by them. “If in three years the sapling can survive on its own and in 10 years it will start giving flowers, fruits, shade and also help in checking global warming," he said.

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