Wednesday, 06 March 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
State to focus on development of NTFP, herbal & aroma tourism: Uniyal
A sum of Rs 628 crore will be spent in the next 10 years on the project for development of non-timber forest products (NTFP), herbal and aroma tourism through federation in Uttarakhand. This project will be implemented in the Van Panchayats of the State and will help in development of communities, income generation, livelihood development and generating awareness on environmental conservation, Forest minister Subodh Uniyal said. Speaking at an orientation workshop on the project here on Tuesday, the minister said that 500 Van Panchayats have been selected under the project. The project will entail plantation of herbs on 5,000 hectare area and training 10,000 persons in such plantation. Further, herbal plantations will be undertaken on 5,000 hectare private land also in addition to development of 11 herbal and aroma tourism parks, he said. Uniyal said that this project will connect the Van Panchayats with the vision of Viksit Bharat. The minister said, “In India, the Van Panchayat system is present only in Uttarakhand. This system was started in 1930 to fulfill the basic requirements of villagers while conserving forests adjoining villages. The Van Panchayats should be further strengthened and also be connected with long-term schemes, for which the Van Panchayat wing has started working.”
Principal chief conservator of forests (Van Panchayats) Dhananjai Mohan said that presently there are 11,217 Van Panchayats covering an area of 4,52,644.29 hectares in the State. He also gave a presentation on the herbal diversity in Uttarakhand.
Informing about the project, chief conservator of forests (Van Panchayat) Parag Madhukar Dhakate said that the approved project proposal has been shared with all district magistrates and divisional forest officers. The project will be implemented by a State-level federation, the formation of which is in the final stage. Saplings of herbs in the Forest department nurseries have been evaluated and the outline for training under the project has also been prepared, he said.
