The Hindu : Front Page : Puducherry evolving new forestland policy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 11, 2007
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Puducherry evolving new forestland policy

Rajesh Nair

Focus will be on green cover in the coastal and lakebed areas

Union Territory lost 18 sq km in last few years Trees will be cultivated on river and lake beds

PUDUCHERRY: The Union Territory's forestland management policy, under preparation, will provide a thrust to afforestation and soil conservation by providing green cover in the coastal and lakebed areas.

It will focus on long-term measures to arrest and increase the green cover, particularly in Puducherry and Karaikal.

The initiative comes in the backdrop of reports of depletion of the territory's green cover in the last few years. The last State Forest Report of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest had pointed out that the Union Territory lost 18 sq km, which was half of its forest cover in the last few years.

Steps would be taken to protect existing mangroves and cultivate more trees on river and lakebeds.

"The policy is only in the draft stage. It would have detailed policy guidelines on immediate and long-term measures to be adopted for having increasing green cover," according to P. Devaraj, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Forestry and Wildlife Department, Puducherry.

Steps have been taken to cultivate soil-preserving and fodder species plants on lake and riverbeds in the rural areas with the involvement of village committees working for the tank rehabilitation programme. Talks were held with the committee members in places such as Bahour, Vadhanur, Kariamanikkam, and Kanakaneri.

It is proposed to plant saplings of babul and subabul on the river and lake beds in the above areas. Bamboo saplings and `vetiver grass,' considered anti-soil erosion grass, would be cultivated along the Malaatar riverbed.

"The Forest department will be taking up this massive exercise on about 150 hectares soon," Mr. Devaraj told The Hindu . A joint forest management committee would be formed in all these places and the task of preserving the trees would be entrusted to the committee, he informed.

MoU soon

A memorandum of understanding would soon be signed with the National Remote Sensing Agency to survey Puducherry and Karaikal regions for a date base on green cover.

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