up its greens. To fix the thinning of trees it has set its team in action. The process of laying a plan in place to increase its green cover from 26 to 35% has begun. It was informed by the Forest Minister Govind Singh Thakur while presiding over a workshop in Shimla today. Stressing on the need to maintain the essence of Himachal He said,” It is necessary to save forests and to stop deforestation. Both of these are on the top priority of State government. For it, State government has taken various steps in the direction of protecting forests”.He urged public participation and support to help the government save the forest. Thakur shared that the Forest Department has developed a mobile app to alert the public on forest fires.This app he shared was showing positive results. Talking about the project, the Forest Minister said,”Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded Rs. 800 crores and this project will be implemented from 2018 to 2028. The purpose of this project is management of forest area more efficiently so that forest cover could be increased along with improvement in community livelihood.” He also added that this project will be implemented in three stages. The six districts selected for the purpose are Kinnaur, Shimla, Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu and Lahaul Spiti.” He stressed on the need to protect the forest cover and to bring more land under it.Elaborating on the state government’s efforts, he mentioned about the Van Samridhi, Jan Samridhi Yojna along with many other schemes. Thakur gave details of state government’s efforts in this regard, as he said,” 17 lakh saplings were planted in Himachal Pradesh during the last monsoon and fencing was also done for the protection of planted saplings. About 90 thousand people contributed to make this three days campaign successful. Now the department is also preparing to start a plantation in current winter season also”.]]>
