Forest deptt launches plantation drive; Javed Rana plants Chinar sapling at Civil Secretariat

JAMMU : With an aim to preserve the heritage value of Chinars, the Forest Department on Saturday launched a Chinar plantation drive within the Civil Secretariat premises, Jammu.
Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment Javed Ahmad Rana, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Commissioner Secretary, Sheetal Nanda and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & HoFF, Suresh Kumar Gupta, planted chinar saplings on the occasion.
Pertinently, the Chinar Day is being celebrated every year on 15th of March throughout the UT of Jammu and Kashmir with plantation drives held at specific locations till the season of plantation.
Javed Rana, while speaking on the occasion, highlighted the importance of Chinar as a heritage tree and termed it as the indicator of rich plant biodiversity with tremendous environmental benefits. He said that Chinar is a historic tree which symbolises our cultural identity and heritage. He urged the public to plant more and more Chinar trees. He directed the officers to take all necessary steps to conserve and preserve the existing plants.
Maintaining that Chinar is an asset of Kashmir that attracts tourists and enhances the beauty of the landscape, the Minister said that there is a need to promote its plantation at suitable locations.
The Minister appreciated the collaborative efforts of Forest Department & J&K FRI, for promotion of Chinar trees in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that steps like Geotagging of Chinars in Kashmir Valley, Chinar QR codes, Vegetative Multiplication Garden (VMG) of Chinar at Srinagar will go a long way in preservation and conservation of our treasured heritage.
Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, lauded the initiative taken by Forest Department under which it has identified 28560 Chinar Trees in J&K and each of the identified tree has been geotagged with digital QR enabled scannable plate that contains 25 tree attributes.
Sheetal Nanda and Suresh Kumar Gupta stressed that the plantation drive is necessary for creating awareness among the people about the importance of Chinar trees.
The department has targeted planting of 1000 Chinar trees on the occasion of Chinar Day throughout J&K.
Chinar saplings are being distributed free of cost in all the districts of the UT. to all who are interested in planting this tree.