Environment Ministers press release

Chandigarh, January 14 - Haryana Minister of State for Forests and Environment, Mrs Kiran Choudhry directed the Haryana Forests Department to carry out satellite survey of forests in order to evaluate the success of the plantation done in the State. She also said that the land in the State should be divided into three zones based on the agro climatic conditions like arid zone, water zone and mixed zone to make required provisions as per the climatic conditions to effectively implement plantation work and to increase the forests cover in the State.

This was disclosed by the Mrs Choudhry while taking up the review meeting of the Haryana Forests Department at Red Bishop, Panchkula near here today.

She directed the two Chief Conservators of Forests incharge of four circles to tour their areas to keep a check on plantation activities and illegal mining and give a thorough report to the Department regularly. She said that today we are living in the economy driven time and we should market the products which were grown in herbal parks. She said that it was important that District Forests Officers (DFO's) take up economic generating activities in their respective districts. She said that medicinal plants should be grown in these herbal parks and extensive marketing should be done. She said that there was a need to restructure the Medicinal Plants Board and identify the varieties which were patented by the Board. She said that processing units of medicinal plants like aloe vera should be established by the Haryana Forestry Development Corporation.

She directed the all the DFO's to involve women in the Forestry projects and increase the number of nurseries run by women. She said that participation of women should ensured through Self Help Groups and by giving nursery work to women exclusively and augment their income.

She said that services and training of those officers should be utilized who get specialized training on Government expenditure. She said that the Department should start schemes which augment rural livelihood and take up social activities in their respective districts.

She urged the officials to utilize the funds provided under NAREGA and also a written intimation would be sent to all the District Commissioners for providing the funds directly to the concerned DFO's so that they could plant trees, raise nursuries for free distribution of saplings under Farm Forestry.

She asked the Haryana Forests Department to make an appropriate demand of budget from the Government for the coming financial year, keeping in mind that two of the foreign aided projects would be exhausted this year and there would be scarcity of funds to carry out the plantation work successfully in the State. She said that it was very important to preserve the Forests and Environment and no dereliction would be tolerated in this regard.

She asked the officers to take up the Eco tourism activities in their respective areas as it would bring the State on the global map and increase the tourists flow in the State. She said that first phase of Eco Tourism Project started at the Fort at Thapali in Morni had been completed and the second phase proposal had been sent to Government of India and soon the fort would be open for the tourists and visitors.

She said that in order to check the illegal mining in the State, a Committee should be constituted and strict actions should be taken by the officials in this regard. She said that coordination should be maintained with different departments to curb this menace of illegal mining and any laxity on the part of the officials would not be tolerated.

She said that artists workshops should be organised to create awareness amongst the masses and it was very important that various activities should be held at regular intervals to aware the people about the advantages of trees and environment.