New Delhi: Every time a state government announces tree plantation, a couple of innocuous questions pops up in my mind, ‘Where is the proof that the trees were planted?’, ‘How will the citizens know that trees planted are being maintained?’ To allay all such doubts, Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) has developed a mobile application called ‘e-PEHaL’. The android based mobile application monitors tree plantation in different parts of the state of Punjab. Explaining the main reason behind the mobile application to NDTV, Dr Anil Sood, Head Agro Ecosystem and Crop Modelling System, PRSC, says,
Trees are often planted during functions, various plantation drives, but no one gets to know their status and the type of saplings planted. Often industries are asked to maintain green cover, but how efficiently they do it, no one knows. To provide an insight to all this information, we created this app.
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All About e-PEHaL: Mobile App To Monitor Tree Plantation
The mobile app available in both English and Punjabi language, allow users to fill in all the details related to trees being planted. A user needs to fill in his/her name and contact details, mention the type of plantation (new or old) and the layout, that is area where trees are being planted.
You either do linear plantation which means planting trees in a line – along the road, canal or bus stop, or plant trees on a vacant plot which is either regular or irregular, says Dr Sood.
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Along with this, length of trees, distance between plants, health of trees, approximate age of plants/trees, height of plants, and plant species is required. Once all the details are fed, user needs to take a picture of a plant and upload it on the server.
All the data is put on satellite which helps us in knowing the status of the trees planted in different areas, says Dr Sood.
Apart from all this, an individual can also identify the vacant space where trees can be planted and let the department know about it.
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Forest Cover In Punjab
According to the Forest Survey of India 2017 report, Punjab has a geographic area of 50,362 square (sq) km. Of the total geographic area, while 8 sq km is very dense, 806 sq km is moderately dense and 1,023 sq km is the open forest. Ideally, forest cover should be 33 per cent in plain areas and about 45 per cent in hilly areas. Currently, Punjab has over 33 per cent of the forest cover.
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