Chandigarh, Aug 18 - The Dera Sacha Sauda sect is hoping to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for planting the maximum number of saplings in a single day - over six million.

More than 100,000 followers of the Dera participated in this drive on Aug 15 and planted 6,876,919 saplings in many Indian states as well as some western countries. 'Now we are applying to the Guinness Book of World Records with all the proofs of this feat,' sect spokesperson Pawan Kumar told IANS Tuesday.

'The earlier record for the feat is in the name of a Pakistani organisation that planted 541,176 trees in that country early this year. We broke this record in the very first hour of the day as we had planted 925,000 saplings between 9.15 a.m. to 10.15 a.m. on Saturday.'

Followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect marked Independence Day on Saturday and celebrated the birthday of the sect chief, Gurmeet Ram-Rahim Singh, by planting the saplings all across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and the union territory of Chandigarh.