Public participation essential to conserve forests, says CM Sukhu

“Participation of people is important in protection and conservation of forest and Van Mitras alone would be unable to do this tedious task,” said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu while addressing newly appointed Van Mitras on the occasion of their passing-out parade here today. The Chief Minister said that forest protection was a community responsibility along with forest personnel. He said that the Forest Department was facing a shortage of field staff that posed challenges to forest protection. The appointments of van mitras were made on merits while women took the lead in securing these roles. He assured that the government was committed to framing future policies that would safeguard their careers and recognise them as true guardians of the forests. Earlier, the Chief Minister launched the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Van Samvardhan Yojana’. He said that this is significant step towards environmental conservation and community participation in forest management. He said that the scheme not only aims to increase the green cover by planting fruit-bearing trees on barren and degraded forest areas but will also generate employment and income for local communities by ensuring participation of women and youth committees and self-help groups. Sukhu also gave certificates to two Mahila Mandals of his home panchayats Amlehad and Bhawdan that would carry out plantation activities on two hectares of forest land and ensure its maintenance for a period of five years. He also launched ‘Green Adoption Scheme’. The CM said that under the scheme, Ambuja Cement Company would undertake plantation on 25 hectares while the Adani Foundation and UltraTech would adopt 10 hectares each. He said that the scheme envisages to encourage private enterprises, corporate houses and non-government organisations as a part of their social responsibility to adopt barren forest land and undertake forestation work. The Chief Minister inspected the passing-out parade of the newly appointed Van Mitras and interacted with them. He said that the Van Mitra Yojana was one of the department’s most successful endeavours. The scheme aims to create employment for youth and deliver benefits to the grassroots level besides promoting public awareness about forest conservation. He urged van mitras not to limit their role to forest protection alone but also to engage with rural communities to spread awareness about the importance of forests.

Himachal Tribune