state level van mahotsav

July 15– Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hoodatoday said that under the new forest policy of the State Government,the area under forest cover would be increased from 7.13 per centthis year to 10 per cent by the year 2010. There were also plans toincrease it up to 20 per cent under the National Forest Policy, headded. The Chief Minister was addressing State level " Van Mahotsav"function and Rural Empowerment and Development Workshop organized bythe State Forest Department at Ateili in Mahendergarh district.The Chief Minister said that with the financial assistance of Rs 286crore from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, an IntegratedNatural Resource Management and Poverty Reduction Project was beingexecuted. Under this project, the department had set a target to bring48,800 hectares of area under tree plantation by 2011. The governmenthad also sent a project namely Resource Management and LivelihoodProject involving an investment of Rs 230 crore to the World Bank fordevelopment of forests in the state. He cautioned that the rapid industrialization andmodernization had become a threat to maintain environmental balanceand it was the need of the hour to make afforestation a publicmovement to save the lives of future generations. He also stressed theneed for promotion of eco-tourism to make the children conscious ofnature and environment . Pointing out that the state had limited forest area, heasked the farmers to plant trees and the Haryana Forest DevelopmentCorporation would ensure remunerative prices for their timbre produce.For the benefit of farmers, a timber market is being set up atYamunanagar by the state government, he added. Mr Hooda exhorted the people that on every auspiciousoccasion like marriage, child birth every family member should planta tree and take full care of its growth and take pledge to make"Harit-Haryana" campaign a success. The Minister of State for Forest , Tourism, Environment,Sports and Youth Affairs, Mrs Kiran Chaudhary said that the forestdepartment had planned to plant five crore saplings during this year.Out of these, the forest department would plant two crore saplingwhereas three crore saplings would be distributed free of cost to thefarmers, in the schools, NGOs and other voluntary organizations, sheadded. In order to ensure the public participation, thedepartment had set up 1700 " gram Van Samitis" in the state , she saidand added that 1100 Self Help Group of women had also been formed inthe state for their empowerment and also to supplement their source ofincome. Mrs Chaudhary said that the state government had set up 24herbal parks in the state to motivate farmers to adopt cultivation ofmedicinal plants and announced that four more such parks would also beset up soon. MLAs Mr Naresh Yadav and Mr Radhe Shyam Sharma also spokeon the occasion. On the occasion, Mr Hooda also inaugurated an exhibitionof the products made by self help groups and also planted a sapling.Earlier while addressing a gathering at Bal Bharti High School,Bachhod, he pointed out that Ahirwal remained neglected during therules of previous governments in the state. He assured that no stonewould be left unturned in giving due share of Ahirwal in canal watersupplies and development activities.