CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Government would soon frame a new forest policy to make Haryana more green and to strengthen the management system of the Forest Department. Also, the Wild Life Advisory Board

would be reconstituted and computerised records of plantations and saplings would be maintained, the Haryana Minister of State for Forests, Kiran Chaudhary, said here on Tuesday while presiding over a meeting of senior officers of the Forest Department.

She said that she would make every possible effort to plant more and more trees as her late husband Surinder Singh had always dreamed of making Haryana a lush green State.

In future inspections would be carried out to detect fake plantations by some officials of the Department. Fictitious plantation of saplings would be curbed with a heavy hand and those found guilty would be

punished. Also, the random checking of muster rolls would be conducted to avoid fake entries of labour by the forest officials. For this, the help of village panchayats would be taken.

And to make rural people aware of the importance of forests, a Jan Chetna campaign would be launched in

all the rural schools of hilly areas of the State. Children would be imparted education regarding importance of trees by organising slogans competitions on the theme of ``save the forests and plant more and more trees".

Mrs. Chaudhary asserted that animal poachers would not be spared at any cost irrespective of the fact that howsoever high they may be. Steps were being taken for conservation of wild life in the State and Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary and the Zoo at Rohtak would be strengthened and more facilities would be added to attract tourists.

She disclosed that her late husband had set up a zoo at Bhiwani in 1984 which was disbanded by the then Government. Now the same would be restored.

She stressed the need of growing medicinal plants in the State.

She assured that the State Government would soon take up the matter of marketing of medicinal plants with the Union Government to make the cultivation of medicinal plants more popular and gainful.

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