Amit Shah pushes afforestation in Gandhinagar, 1.5 crore trees planted in 3 years
Synopsis
Seven years in, the 'Gandhinagar Lok Sabha – Green Lok Sabha' campaign has crossed 1.5 crore trees — but Amit Shah's own admission that an 11.2% density gain is 'insufficient' signals the initiative is shifting gears: from counting saplings to demanding long-lived species, survival accountability, and whole-community ownership.
Key Takeaways
Amit Shah chaired the Green Lok Sabha organisational meeting at Circuit House, Ahmedabad on 27 June .
More than 1.5 crore trees have been planted over the past three years under the seven-year-old campaign.
Tree density in the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency has risen by 11.2 per cent , but Shah described this as insufficient.
Shah called for at least 33 per cent of future plantations to comprise long-lived tree species.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel , Deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi , and BJP state president Jagdish Vishwakarma attended the meeting.
Citizens, schools, industries, and voluntary groups were urged to identify vacant land and each plant and maintain at least one tree.
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on 27 June chaired an organisational meeting at Circuit House, Ahmedabad, urging large-scale expansion of the 'Gandhinagar Lok Sabha – Green Lok Sabha' initiative and calling tree plantation a collective social responsibility rather than a partisan activity. The meeting reviewed seven years of environmental work under the campaign and set fresh targets for plantation coverage and tree survival across the constituency.
Key Developments at the Meeting
The gathering was attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Jagdish Vishwakarma, and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, along with party office-bearers and elected representatives from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Campaign organisers said more than 1.5 crore trees have been planted over the past three years under the initiative, which has run continuously for seven years with an emphasis on environmental conservation and public participation.
What Amit Shah Said
'Tree plantation is not an activity of any one political party but a social responsibility of every human being,' Shah said, urging every household in the constituency to participate actively in both planting and long-term upkeep of trees. He stressed that one-time plantation drives are insufficient without sustained maintenance.
Shah noted that while tree density in the constituency has risen by 11.2 per cent, the gains remain inadequate given rising global temperatures. He advocated that at least 33 per cent of all plantations should comprise long-lived species, arguing that slower-growing trees deliver sustained ecological benefits — shade, oxygen, and reduced need for repeated replantation — over time.
'The protection and conservation of the Earth, nature and biodiversity is our shared responsibility and primary duty,' he said, reiterating the urgency of addressing climate change and global warming. He also called for responsible use of natural resources, stating that 'nature must be utilised responsibly but never exploited.'
Community and Institutional Mobilisation
Shah appealed to citizens, educational institutions, social organisations, industrial bodies, voluntary groups, and political workers to identify vacant spaces in their localities for plantation. He urged every citizen to plant at least one tree and personally ensure its upkeep, framing such collective action as the pathway to transforming the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency into a greener, more resilient region.
Broader Context and What's Next
The push comes amid growing concern over urban heat islands and declining green cover in rapidly developing Gujarat cities. This is the seventh consecutive year of the Green Lok Sabha campaign, making it one of the longer-running constituency-level environmental drives in the country. With fresh targets now set, the next phase of the campaign is expected to focus on tree survival rates — a metric that organisers acknowledged needs greater attention alongside raw plantation numbers.
Point of View
But Shah's own concession that an 11.2% density gain is 'insufficient' raises the harder question: how many of those trees survived? Raw planting numbers have long been the weakness of government greening drives across India, where survival audits are rarely made public. The pivot toward long-lived species and household-level maintenance responsibility is the right instinct — but without transparent survival-rate reporting, the Green Lok Sabha campaign risks becoming a well-intentioned headline that the ecosystem cannot verify.
NationPress
27 Jun 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 'Gandhinagar Lok Sabha – Green Lok Sabha' initiative?
It is a seven-year-old environmental campaign focused on large-scale tree plantation, green cover expansion, and public participation in the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Organisers say more than 1.5 crore trees have been planted under the initiative over the past three years.
How many trees have been planted under the Green Lok Sabha campaign?
According to campaign organisers, more than 1.5 crore trees have been planted over the last three years. Tree density in the Gandhinagar constituency has risen by 11.2 per cent, though Amit Shah described this progress as still insufficient.
What did Amit Shah say about tree plantation at the Ahmedabad meeting?
Shah said tree plantation is 'a social responsibility of every human being' and not a political programme. He called for at least 33 per cent of plantations to comprise long-lived species, and urged every family in the constituency to plant and maintain at least one tree.
Who attended the Green Lok Sabha organisational meeting on 27 June?
The meeting at Circuit House, Ahmedabad was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, BJP state president Jagdish Vishwakarma, and party office-bearers and elected representatives from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.
Why is the focus shifting to long-lived tree species?
Shah argued that long-lived species, though slower to grow, deliver sustained ecological benefits over time — including shade, oxygen supply, and reduced need for repeated replantation. He recommended that at least 33 per cent of future plantations under the campaign should consist of such species.
