Forest and environment minister Bijayshree Routray on Wednesday announced a policy for urban forestry which would act as lungs of…
Forest misister Bijayshree Routray.
Forest and environment minister Bijayshree Routray on Wednesday announced a policy for urban forestry which would act as lungs of the urban areas across the state.
Addressing a World Forestry Day meeting here, Routray said already a 20 sqkm forest cover has come up at Bharatpur on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and it is being maintained with another 2 lakh sapplings being planted.
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Similar efforts will be undertaken in and around all urban local bodies of Odisha and the spread will depend on availability of land, he said.
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Focussing on the need to conserve and create green cover, Mr Routray said every year forests of the size of Nepal was being destroyed across the world.
India has however done well as people have grown conscious and Odisha has excelled by increasing the forest cover by 885 sq km in the last four years, he said.
He lauded the efforts of forest department officers, field staff, the Vana Surakshya Samitis and Eco-development committees.
The Minister focused on the successful implementation of the newly added scheme of the government like Preservation of Sacred Groves in which 2161 number of identified sites of Sacred Groves have been preserved and developed and the Green Mahanadi Mission which aimed at rejuvenating the river systems and making them perennial.
Additional Chief Secretary to Govt of Odisha, Forest & Environment Department Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force, Odisha S. C. Mishra also addressed the meeting. It is may be noted the current year’s theme of World Forestry Day is ‘Forests and Sustainable Cities”.
Mr Suresh Mohapatra mentioned about various other newer initiatives taken up by the government like a scheme of 6 years namely Ama Jangal Yojana. In this programme, a total of about 7000 VSSs are to be involved phase wise for restoration of degraded forests in the state.
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