‘Jal-Jungle-Jamin’ is heritage, not slogan for us: CM

Chief Minister Raghubar Das, underlining the importance of environmental conservation for the sake of mankind, called upon everyone to contribute for safeguarding the Mother Nature.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating massive plantation drive started on Monday along the rivers of the State, the Chief Minister termed the natural resources as legacy of the people of Jharkhand.

“Jal-Jungle-Jamin” is not just a slogan for us. We have inherited and preserved it since time immemorial for our future generation. After coming into Government, plantation programme has been one of our priorities. Apart from plantation, we also need to protect them,” said the CM from the banks of Subarnarekha.

He also said the Government is making it a mass movement and added that forests are important from the point of view of science, spirituality and economy. The CM also said about the target set for planting 2.40 crore plants in the State.

“Plantation programme will continue till August 15. Nine lakh saplings are being planted today in 24 districts by 24 rivers banks. Erosion of rivers will stop and plants will also desired irrigation due to moisture available there by planting more and more trees along the banks of rivers. Last year, 2.75 saplings were planted on 19,700 hectares of land and 4600 hectares of natural forests were regenerated. This year, the Forest Department has revived 7,000 hectares of natural forests. Also, 2.40 crore saplings are planted on 15,300 hectares of land,” informed the CM.

While appealing the people to join the movement, the CM mentioned about the subsidy given by the Government for doing plantation under the Chief Minister Jan Van scheme which is up to 75 per cent. “We have received request for more than four times the area in comparison to 2017, i.e. more than 3000 acres of land of farmers for plantation. In the next year 2019, the Department will plant 2.50 crore saplings in 16,000 hectares of land. In addition, the goal of reviving natural forests is also increased by seven times to 35,000 hectares. It will have 70 lakh species of trees which are found naturally in the forest and local people rely on it. More than 750 villages will get benefit of this scheme directly. About 6,000 hectares of bamboo forests of Elephants-sensitive 14 forests division will be cleaned and revived.”

The Chief Minister also said that mass participation is necessary for saving and enhancing forests. For this, the Forest Department is providing assistance to the village forest committees in the 5000 villages adjacent to the forests for creating micro planes under intermediate forest management.

“Assistance is being given to village forest committees in establishing small industries for processing minor forest produces which can be easily run by small groups of rural women. Assistance is being provided to such forest-based cottage-small scale industries on a large scale by the Chief Minister Small Enterprises Development Board,” added the CM.

Rajya Sabha MPs Mahesh Poddar, BS Samir Oraon, MLAs Ram Kumar Pahan, Navin Jaiswal, Vice Chairman of the 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee Rakesh Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary of Forest Department Indushekhar Chaturvedi, PCCF Sanjay Kumar, Principle Secretary to Chief Minister Dr Sunil Kumar Barnwal and a large number of dignitaries were present on the occasion.