Awantipora, Dec 17: Forest Division Awantipora, held aplantation drive atatziyaratshareif Las soab-i-Meej Pampore on Saturday. The drive was kickstarted by Waseem Farooq Mir (SFS), Divisional Forest Officer,Awantipora.
The officers who were presentat the occasion were Tafazul Majeed, Law Officer to the Chief Secretary, Mohammed Arief, Assistant Soil Conservation Officer, Arooq Ahmad Shah Range Officer, Ishfaq Ahmad Range Officer SC Range Pampore, Aijaz Ahmad Khan, President of Bar Association Pampore, Rej officials of Awantipora Division. Muslim religious heads and other locals of the area participated in the drive.
Divisional Forest Officer Awantipora formally started the drive by planting a deodar sapling on the occasion. Other officers on the occasion also planted saplings of deodar and other species and made this program successful and satisfactory.
The drive was organised by the RehaberJanglat employees of the Awantipora Forest Division on the directions of Divisional Forest Officer Awantipora as a step to bring back the dwindled tree cover and to make a leap in the greening of urban areas and Sacred places,
On the occasion, the Divisional Forest Officer Awantipora said that the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Department is committed to working tirelessly to increase the Forest cover and make it as per the National Forest policy therefore, every greening effort is being made to contribute towards this national cause of catching the norms of NFP. We endeavour to make green Jammu and Kashmir by bringing more and more areas under plantation and this drive is one such attempt towards greening JK and will continue with such drives in future also.
Greening sacred places will not only increase the tree cover but will also bring people close to nature and will also help in bringing the value of trees into the minds of elder and women folk of our society as all these people often and often visit sacred places. Further, he also said that green drives especially in semi-urban areas like Pampore will not only help in environmental amelioration but will also help in fetching the local fuel and fodder demands.
The locals of the area were pleased and applauded such greening initiatives of the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Department and urged the department to conduct such drives in other adjacent areas also.
