Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology, Choudhary Lal Singh today said the Government is aiming to popularize Chinar plantation with sustained drives in various regions of the State.The Minister while planting Chinar saplings alongside Udhampur-Nashri tunnel on Jammu-Srinagar highway said the ongoing rainy season is best time for plantation and the Forest Department has taken it in a mission mode to cover maximum area under plantation.Singh asked the concerned officers to intensify the plantation drive during the rainy season while stressing on planting the saplings of ornamental and fruit plants that can sustain the local weather conditions along the Highway. Besides launching special plantation drives, Singh also reviewed the earlier plantation drives in various forest ranges from Jammu to Udhampur districts.Pertinently, according to historians Chinars were brought from Central Asia by the Mughal kings and some even say that the Mughal emperor Jehangir used to himself nourish the 1200 Chinars planted in the Naseem Bagh, the present-day University of Kashmir campus.
During his extensive day-long tour, the Minister visited various areas including Mantalai, Sudhmahadev, Gorikund, Jakhed, Chennani, where he reviewed the plantation drives launched by the Forest Department.During the public durbars in these areas, the locals apprised the Minister of their problems and demands related to development of their respective areas seeking an early redress of the same.On the occasion, the Minister listened to the grievances of the locals and assured them that these would be resolved in a phased manner. He also convened ‘Charcha Mandals’ across these areas to know the status of the essentials and stocks made by the government. He also urged people to come forward in huge numbers and start plantation drives and save forests from further deterioration. Singh said the government is well abreast with the issues of the people and is endeavoring hard to mitigate these at the earliest. Seeking cooperation of the people, the Minister asked all stakeholders to be part of plantation drive so that ecology can be maintained properly. He said the Government is contemplating to update the forest policy with the aim to increase the forest wealth of the State.MD SFC Suresh Kumar Gupta, CCF Jammu Roshan Jaggi, Director Social Forestry, A K Gupta, Conservator Forests Jammu, Naveen Shah, Regional Wild Life Warden, Senthil Kumar, Regional Director State Pollution Contrrol Board, Showkat Choudhary, DFO Territorial Jugal Kishore, DFO SF Dr. Rajan Singh, Deputy Director FPF Rakesh Saraf, Divisional Manager SFC Puran Singh, among other senior officers of Forest and its allied wings accompanied the Minister during the visit.