The Union Ministry of Railways and Forest Department of Haryana & Punjab have signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for plantation of trees alongside Railway Track on Railway Land Boundary. The MoU paves way for planting around 5 lakh trees alongside Railway Track on Railway Land Boundary prior to Monsoon Season.

Forest department of respective states will provide expertise in afforestation as well as in maintenance and disposal of trees. This afforestation process with different types of cedar trees and other ones can help in protecting railway land from illegal encroachment. Tree plantation will be done without declaring such land as protected forest, thus it will be no hindrance to railway works and developmental projects.

Union Ministry of Railways has asked all Zonal railways to execute similar agreement between their zones and concerned State Forest departments as early as possible.

Did You Know?

• There is a theory that the evolution of tall, woody, flowering trees (angiosperms) might have played a pivotal role in the extinction of the dinosaurs.
• Did you know that certain types of trees warn each other when they’re under siege by insects? Since the late 1970s, researchers have studied this phenomenon in willows and poplars.
• Trees are all-mighty recyclers. They regulate our air quality through photosynthesis, absorbing nearly aton of CO2 in a lifetime and produce about 260 pounds of oxygen a year.
• Mature trees that are “properly placed around buildings” can protect a household from excessive exposure to the sun or wind.
• Trees are very sensitive to their environments. The disruption of an ecosystem-whether caused by man or nature-can greatly stress a tree.