Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today honoured top-performing Village Forest Management Society (VFMS) from Kangra and Chamba districts under the KFW-funded project during a programme held in Dehra, Kangra district. For the year 2021–22, the state-level first prize of rupees one lakh was awarded to the VFMS Lagdu of Dehra Forest Division, the second prize of Rs. 60,000 to the VFMS Chambhar of Dalhousie Forest Division, and the third prize of Rs. 40,000 was presented to the VFMS Bhated of Dehra Forest Division.
For the year 2022–23, the first prize of rupees one lakh was awarded to VFMS Bhated, second prize of Rs. 60,000 to VFMS Jaini Masroor-2 and the third prize of Rs. 40,000 to VFMS Lagdu all from the Dehra Forest Division. Similarly for the year 2023–24, the first prize of rupees one lakh was again bagged by VFMS Jaini Masroor-2, the second prize of Rs. 60,000 went to VFMS Bhatth, and the third prize of Rs. 40,000 to VFMS Lagdu.
At the Dehra Forest Division level, the 2021–22 awards included Rs. 50,000 to VFMS Lagdu (Khudian Range), Rs. 30,000 to VFMS Bhated (Nagrota Surian Range), and Rs. 20,000 to VFMC Naushera (Dehra Range). For 2022–23, Rs. 50,000 was awarded to VFMS Bhated (Nagrota Surian), Rs. 30,000 to VFMS Jaini Masroor-2 (Nagrota Surian) and Rs. 20,000 to VFMS Baldoa (Nagrota Surian).
In 2023–24, the division-level prizes of Rs. 50,000, Rs. 30,000, and Rs. 20,000 were awarded to VFMS Jaini Masroor-2, VFMS Baldoa, and VFMS Bhated all from Nagrota Surian Range respectively. The Chief Minister congratulated all the winners and lauded their commitment towards environmental protection.
He said that 307 Forest Development Committees from Kangra and Chamba districts were actively engaged in planning, implementing and monitoring activities under this project. He said that forest conservation was not only essential for climate protection, but also directly linked to increase in catchment areas of water bodies, prevention of soil erosion, biodiversity protection and means of livelihood.
Sh. Sukhu said that nearly the forest cover of the state has been assessed to be 15443 Sq Kms, which is around 28 percent of the total geographical area and the recorded forest area that is legally classified is spread over an area of 37948 Sq Kms accounting for 68.16 percent of geographical area which grants the state a unique ecological identity.
He said that the people of Himachal Pradesh share a spiritual and traditional bond with nature. However, population growth, developmental activities and climate change were increasingly draining the forest resources. The Chief Minister stated that to mitigate these challenges, the State government has adopted sustainable and scientific forest management strategies through the Forest department.
He said that a total of Rs. 22.5 crore incentive grants would be directly transferred to the bank accounts of best-performing committees and out of this Rs. 2.5 crore has already been disbursed and the remaining would be released within the a year. The Chief Minister urged the youth to take active part in the movement to preserve forests and emphasized for striking a balance between development and environmental protection to ensure a secure, prosperous and green Himachal for future generations.
He said that plantation and land conservation work has been carried out over 13,300 hectares of land under the project in Kangra and Chamba districts. Around 61,000 saplings have been planted on 8,300 hectare area while invasive lantana has been weeded out from the remaining area.
The project was set to be completed by 30th March 2026. He said that the success of this project demonstrates how the synergy of policy, technology, and public participation can make even the most difficult tasks achievable. Earlier, the Chief Minister also visited an exhibition set-up by the Forest department.
Vice Chairman, Himachal Pradesh State Planning Board Bhawani Singh Pathania, MLAs Sanjay Rattan, Kamlesh Thakur and Vivek Sharma, Vice Chairman HRTC Ajay Verma, Chairman Kangra Central Co-operative Bank Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Chairman HP Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation Mohan Lal, Chairman APMC Kangra Nishu Mongra, Chairman Wool Federation Manoj Kumar, Congress leaders Surender Mankotia and Pushpinder Thakur, PCCF (HoFF) Sameer Rastogi, Deputy Commissioner Hemraj Bairwa, Superintendent of Police Mayank Chaudhary and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.