Jaipur. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has directed Forest Department officials to prepare a time-bound plan for eradicating the unwanted Julie Flora trees from the state. He said that in several regions of Rajasthan villagers were irritated due to this species and the department should initiate a special campaign to get rid ofit.
Gehlot was chairing a review meeting of the Forest department in the Chief Minister’s Office on Thursday. He asked the forest official to coordinate with the district administration for conducting surveys to identify the regions in the forest and non-forest areas where Julie flora was growing. Then, prepare a three-year plan upto village-level to eradicate this problem from the very root, he said.
The CM directed the officials to develop nurseries of different plant species and make the saplings available to general public and the institutions across the state. He said that such efforts were required to increase green cover in the state, especially in the cities. He further suggested the department to plant trees on both the sides of national or state highways and the major district roads and prepare plan for protecting these plants for a particular time period.
Shri Gehlot argued in favour of a big campaign to make Rajasthan greener. Different government departments and the general public should work together for such efforts, he said. He directed the officials to take steps in curbing illegal felling of trees in the forest areas.
Chief Minister also issued directions to stop revenue loss in the forestry activities. He asked the forest officials to plant such trees in the tribal and dense forest areas which would help the local dwellers increase their income by selling forest produces in the market. He said that this would further lead to increased collection of revenue for the state government.
The Minister of State for Forest Shri SukhramVishnoi also gave suggestions for increasing forest and green cover in the state. The department officials gave presentation about three newly-proposed projects for forestation and conservation of biodiversity in Rajasthan with the financial support of Japan International Cooperation Agency, Korean Exim Bank and NABARD.
Chief Secretary Shri DB Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary Finance, Principal Secretary and other senior officers of Forest department were present in the meeting.
