Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment, Choudhary Lal Singh and Minister for Information, Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali today planted various saplings in and around Trade and Food Supplies store here at Nagrota.Officers of Food, Consumer Affairs and Civil Supplies, Forest and its allied wings also joined the drive and planted about 200 saplings in and around the premises of the store. The senior functionaries present on the occasion were Secretary Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Shafiq Ahmed Raina, Chief Conservator of Forests Farooq Gellani, Director FCA&CA, Jammu R A Inqlabi, Conservator West Circle Qamar-ud-Din, Conservator Chenab Circle T B Singh besides other senior officers of Food, Consumer Affairs and Civil Supplies and Forests.Interacting with the locals, Choudhary Lal Singh appealed the people to become the part of ongoing drive by planting trees in open and degraded areas of their locality to create a healthy environment.Describing forest as Nature's great gift, the Ministers said “People's participation should be central to the efforts of the Government in saving the green gold.”
Choudhary Lal Singh directed the Divisional Forest Officers to continue their efforts to achieve the set target of planting 1.25 crore ornamental and fruit saplings in the forest areas and alongside the roads of Jammu division during the current monsoon season.In his address, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali asked the officers of FCS&CAD to put in concerted efforts and mobilize the available resources for launching plantation drive in and around the offices and other establishments of the department. He asked them to take the help of Forest Department Officers in this regard and become the part of this great cause.The Minister informed that priority of the BJP-PDP Government is to achieve cent percent targets of plantation in monsoon especially on degraded and uncovered forest land. He also stressed the need for planting ornamental plants alongside the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway schools, colleges and Government offices adding that the forest department is providing plant saplings free of cost.