Orissa to construct 300 water bodies inside forest

Bhubaneswar, Jun 24 (UNI) Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today directed to construct 300 water bodies inside the forest in Orissa during the year.

The Chief Minister's direction came during a review meeting of the afforestation programme in which it was decided to undertake afforestation over one lakh hectare area to provide employment opportunities to the people residing inside the forest.

Official sources said the meeting also agreed to construct trench and wall spread over an area of 300 kms inside the forest and involve 2500 self help groups(SHG) in employment oriented horticulture and cattle rearing programmes.

The meeting also decided to generate job for two lakh families in the afforestation programme.

The Chief Minister directed the authority to give special attention to the environment and afforestation programme in Keonjhar, Angul,Sundargarh and Jharsuguda keeping in view the rapid industrialisation in the state.

The government has identified 30,000 hectares of land for transplation of bamboo and karanja trees in the state.

UNI