In the cool shadow of the Oak Over complex in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu planted a sapling on Thursday, 6 August 2026 — and with it, fired the starting gun on the third edition of a campaign that has quietly become one of the city's most visible green commitments.

The Shimla Municipal Corporation's 'Green Shimla, Our Shimla' (Harit Shimla, Hamara Shimla) campaign kicked off its week-long plantation drive with CM Sukhu urging every resident of the state to plant at least one tree every year — and, crucially, to commit to nurturing it. 'Himachal's identity is defined by its forests and mountains,' he said, framing the act of planting not as a civic duty but as an assertion of who the hill state is.

5,000 to 10,000 Saplings: What This Year's Drive Aims to Deliver

The 2026 edition has set a target of planting between 5,000 and 10,000 saplings across the week. On the opening day, municipal councillors were handed saplings of baan (Himalayan oak) and deodar — two species deeply woven into the ecological and cultural fabric of the region — to carry the drive into their own wards.

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh, Shimla Mayor Surendra Chauhan, and a gathering of councillors and dignitaries were present at the launch. Through the rest of the week, state cabinet ministers will participate in plantation events across Himachal Pradesh, with the explicit aim of turning a civic programme into a mass movement.

Three Years In: How the Campaign Has Grown

This is the campaign's third consecutive year — a marker that separates it from one-off symbolic gestures. The Shimla Municipal Corporation has anchored it as an annual fixture, building on the momentum of two prior editions to widen both the tree count and public participation. The choice of baan and deodar is deliberate: both are native Himalayan species that support biodiversity, stabilise slopes, and signal ecological intent over ornamental planting.

Himachal Pradesh sits at the frontline of Himalayan ecological stress — shifting rainfall patterns, urban sprawl on fragile slopes, and forest degradation are pressures the state has long grappled with. Community-led urban greening drives like this one are part of a broader state approach that leans on local bodies and public ownership rather than top-down mandates alone.

Whether the week closes with 5,000 trees or 10,000, the real test will come in the seasons that follow — in whether the saplings are tended, whether the councillors who received them this morning become stewards rather than photo-op participants. That is the wager every plantation campaign makes. Himachal is three years into finding out.