Indian Army seeks Guinness entry through Assam forest plantation drive

Dhubri (Assam), June 14 (ANI): Troops of the Indian Army's 21 Jat regiment, also known as the Red Horns Division, are seeking to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by planting 500,000 tree saplings in Assam's Dhubri District.

About 300 army personnel began planting saplings in the bare Shreegram Reserve Forest of Dhubri district in Assam at around 3:00 p.m. (IST)on Friday. They were to complete the task on Saturday afternoon. A report on whether the record was achieved or not is awaited.

Army officials believe that such an effort by the Indian Army will spread awareness about the benefits of planting trees.

"The aim of this record is to create awareness among people regarding plantation of trees. We have witnessed deforestation, erosion and encroachment taking place here since the last three years. People here do plant trees but they don't fence them," said J.S Sekhawat, an officer of Red Horns Division.

State forest authorities have helped the army in terms of providing land, saplings, fencing and necessary guidance to achieve the record. The preparation for the record began 10 months ago.

The current record in the category of most saplings planted in 24 hours is held by Durango, city of Mexico, where 348 thousands saplings were planted. (ANI)