He highlighted that under the Green Mizoram programme, over 16,50,855 trees had been planted in the state during the last eleven years.
He, however, said, ''Despite all these efforts, deforestation is rampant mainly due to the shifting cultivation, illegal felling of trees and our failure to nurture the trees we have planted.'' As many as 1500 species of trees were planted today at the university campus and elsewhere in Aizawl to mark the green day.
The chief minister congratulated the university which witnessed 100 per cent of trees they had planted last year have grown up.