Green cover goes up in UT

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 5

According to the latest Indian State of Forest Report-2015, prepared by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Chandigarh’s green cover consisting of area under tree cover and forest cover, has increased.

The city’s green cover, which includes the forest cover and tree cover, has increased from 27.26 square km in 2013 to 31.03 square km in 2015.

The report was released by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi yesterday, which was compiled by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, which is under the Ministry Environment and Forests.

While giving out reasons of increase in the green cover in Chandigarh, the report reads, “It is due to plantation and protection activities”.

Meanwhile, the Forest Survey of India has included the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary in the UT’s green cover. The Forest Survey of India calculates the green cover on the basis of the map of the Survey of India and in that map the sanctuary has been shown as the part of Punjab and Haryana. Though, the UT maintains the sanctuary, yet the revenue record of the sanctuary is with Punjab and Haryana, an official added.