Forest cover to go up: Minister

ibune News Service

Shimla, January 15

Forest Minister Govind Singh Thakur said the government aimed at increasing forest area from 26 per cent to 35 per cent in the state.

Presiding over a workshop on a project for improvement of Himachal Pradesh Forest Ecosystems Management and Livelihood (JICA funded), here on Tuesday, Thakur said it was necessary to save forests and stop deforestation.

He said the Forest Department had also developed a mobile app to alert the public on forest fires, which was showing positive results.

Talking about the project, he said JICA had given Rs 800 crore for this project to be implemented from 2018 to 2028. The purpose of the project was management of the forest area more efficiently so that the forest cover could be increased along with the improvement in the community livelihood, he added.

He said the project of JICA would be implemented in three stages in six districts —Kinnaur, Shimla, Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti.

He said to protect the forests and to bring more land under forest cover, the government had started Van Samridhi, Jan Samridhi Yojana along with many other schemes.

He said 17 lakh saplings were planted in Himachal Pradesh during the last monsoon and a fencing was also done for the protection of planted saplings.

About 90,000 people contributed to make this three-day campaign successful. Now, the department was also preparing to start plantation in the current winter season, Thakur added.

PCCF Ajay Sharma said the representatives of 27 gram panchayats of Shimla and Rampur forest divisions, Mahila and Yuvak Mandals participated in the workshop.