Rs 230 crore project for Haryana villages

Chandigarh, Nov 6 (UNI) The Haryana Forests Department has prepared a Rs 230 crore 'Resource Management and Livelihood Project' covering 500 villages in the state.

An official spokesman said the thrust of would be to develop village institutions, establish self help groups of poor women and to introduce income generating activities among them.

He said a similar programme entitled 'Community Forestry Project', funded by the European Union, was already being implemented.

This project, with an outlay of Rs 126 crore, had so far covered 337 villages spread over 11 districts of the state. So far, over 30,000 hectares of land had been treated under the project, he added.

He said a large number of farmers and other growers had been motivated to raise trees on their private lands under the Agro-forestry Programme. The success of agro-forestry was one of the highlights of forestry in Haryana.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests was proposing similar models for other states in its drive to achieve 33 per cent of the country's geographical area under forests and tree cover.

The Spokesman said the department was aggressively promoting wildlife preservation and its promotion through eco-tourism. The state had done pioneering work in the conservation and breeding of vultures and Red Jungle Fowl.

The Kalesar Forests, situated on the banks of River Yamuna and on the tri-junction of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, comprise about 40 square km of National Park and 60 square km of Wildlife Sanctuary.

It is an abode of rich bio-diversity of flora and fauna. The forests has leopards, sambhar, cheetal, ghoral, wild bear and other wide variety of mammals and birds.

UNI MA RL ND1738