Rajouri forest division of the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Department has been working on a war footing to increase the green cover in the region under the central government's Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme.
Mohd Sharif, a forester said that the forest department has been very active in working towards increasing the green cover, and added that along with curbing pollution it has improved the look of the hills.
"Deodar and Kayal trees are being planted here. There is increased motivation among people to work towards bettering our forests and the environment," he added.
The forest division is also conducting awareness drives to urge people to stop lighting fire in the forests, said block officer of Bhatuni, Shahnawaz Mirza.
"All staff is on alert to check the forests in our area. We maintain surveillance to see if villagers do not cut our plantations along with the grass to feed their cattle," he said.
Keeping the air clean is an essential task, the employees of the forest department asserted.
"For the first time, such a mass plantation of Deodar has been done. Forest cover has increased significantly here," said the range officer of Kandi, Mohd Nayeem Naik.
He further informed that 14 units have been established here under the CAMPA scheme.
"In our winter plantation, about 36,000 saplings of Deodar and Kayal were planted here. Among these, 20,000 were Deodar and 16,000 were Kayal tree saplings. In all our 14 units, the survival percentage of these saplings is above 80 per cent," said Naik.
Rajouri range officer, Sajjad Haider Shah said that different species of trees are being planted in Rajouri depending on the altitude.
"It is our effort to plant more trees in forests. We also give commercial fruit plants to people free of cost. Mango, lemon, litchi, guava, orange, walnut, apple are among the fruit seeds provided to farmers. Fruit plantation is also being done for animals in the forests. Under the CAMPA scheme, our plantation has been successful so far. This year we have planted about 80,000 trees in Rajouri," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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