By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 16 May: A large-scale plantation and voter awareness campaign will be launched across Uttarakhand from World Environment Day, 5 June, under the directives of Chief Electoral Officer DR BVRC Purushottam. The campaign aims to plant 2 lakh saplings across the state, including all polling booths, and will run till the end of July with the participation of multiple departments.
Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande held a meeting with officials from key departments at the Secretariat here today to discuss preparations for the campaign. He stated that Uttarakhand has over 11,700 polling booths, each of which will have a target of planting 10 saplings. The initiative will involve the oldest, new, and women voters at every polling booth in the plantation activity. Efforts will also be made to ensure proper care of the saplings with community participation.
Jogdande shared that the campaign will be linked with Harela, a traditional folk festival celebrated in July. The Chief Electoral Officer’s office has set monthly themes for voter awareness programmes, with June’s theme being “Every Drop of Rain, Every Vote Counts” and July’s theme “Harela Ka Sandesh, Vote Bane Vishesh”. These themes will guide awareness efforts in all districts, coordinated through District Magistrates and Chief Development Officers (CDOs). The campaign will also be integrated into the ongoing SVEEP activities across the state.
To encourage participation, an online competition will be organised on social media, where voters who actively engage in the plantation drive will be recognised and rewarded.
Officials from the Forest Department, Horticulture Department, Urban Development Department, MDDA, Higher Education Department, Education Department, Women and Child Development Department, Panchayati Raj, and Rural Development Department attended the meeting to discuss their role in the initiative.
