Mission Harit Maharashtra

Mission Harit Maharashtra was an ambitious afforestation project launched by the Government of Maharashtra in 2016, aiming to plant 50 crore (500 million) trees over four years, with yearly planting targets set for each district as part of a broader effort aligned with the National Forest Policy's goal of maintaining 33% forest cover nationwide. A round-the-clock, toll-free helpline, 'Hello Forest' (number 1926), was set up to share information about plantation drives, tree protection and public awareness, while the Forest Department built a mobile application called 'My Plants' to record details of each plantation -- numbers of saplings, species planted and their location -- with authorities made responsible for the care of saplings through their first year. The mission scaled up rapidly: about 2.87 crore saplings were planted in 2016, 5.17 crore in 2017, and 15.17 crore in 2018, before the government set an ambitious target of 33 crore saplings for 2019, launched at Anandwan, Warora. …