Chandigarh: Punjab’s forest cover has risen by 11.63 square kilometers with plantation of nearly 60 lakh saplings in 2020, forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot said.
Citing the Centre’s latest forest cover report, the Minister said under various programmes of the government ,60 lakh saplings were planted in 6,989 villages during the year.
Dharamsot said using Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), the funds were transferred to bank accounts of farmers for plantation of over 19.5 lakh superior quality clonal plants under agro-forestry initiative. The efforts of the government are yielding positive results, he added.
Media reports said in Phillaur and Chak Sarkar forests, the forest department of Punjab introduced ‘rosewood’ , a high-value tree crop and planted nearly five lakh Sheesham plants and other trees along Beas and Satluj rivers. The Minister said the survival rate of the plants was almost 71 per cent.
Worthwhile to mention that forest cover in Punjab could be categorized into three groups. These are tropical thorn forests, tropical dry deciduous forests and subtropical pine forests. They are further classified into seven different types.
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