Forest at village level
In order to enhance the forest cover at the village level in the entire Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary recently in a review meeting has asked the forest officials to work more on the ground so that the efforts become visible.
He lauded the efforts of the Government to enhance green cover of Jammu and Kashmir by launching ‘Green Jammu & Kashmir Drive’ and ‘One beat guard, One Village Programme’ which have a great potential to enhance the livelihood of the communities through their active involvement; the he also noted that greening of J&K is being carried out in all Village Panchyats under ‘Har Gaon Haryali’ campaign with the involvement of PRIs and Biodiversity Management Committees.
He urged the Social Forestry Department to take the mission of ‘Har Gaon Haryali’, green villages, a step further to ‘Har Ghar Haryali’, green homes, in an attempt to encourage households to plant trees. He also suggested launching a movement on the lines of Har Nagar Ek Upvan, a green space for every town.
He also appreciated the generation of livelihood by the Forest Department through its ‘Eco-trek routes’. He also encouraged the members of SHGs, NGOs as well as the Forest Officers to actively work towards finding innovative solutions to engage a greater number of people in livelihood generation activities and conservation of forest resources. He informed that there are 572 unique medicinal plants in J&K and called for formulating a detailed plan for each one of the plants. He directed the Commissioner Secretary and the PCCF Dr Mohit Gera to spearhead the work in this regard and prepare a detailed plan for the cultivation, promotion, and marketing of these plants.
