In a novel initiative to further strengthen its drive to preserve and maintain environment in the State, Punjab Government has decided to induct common people as ‘Greenery Saviours’.
For the same, the state Forest Department has come up with a dedicated mobile application ‘I Rakhwali’, and anyone can become a part of the Mission to save environment from degradation by just downloading it.
“The application has been developed to ensure greenery and to protect environment, and its main aim is to inspire people to plant more trees,” said the state Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on Thursday.
“As of now, people are not aware about various nurseries of the state Forest Department and the procedure how to obtain plant saplings from there. Now, with the launch of this app, people would know about geographical location of these nurseries and have easy access to free plants and saplings,” he added.
The Minister said that ‘i Rakhwali’ app is being launched under which the Department would motivate people to save environment and seek their cooperation.
The aim of this initiative is to safeguard state forest area by making people a stakeholder in this process, he said adding that anyone can report illegal felling of tress, any damage to forests, as common man have first hand information of these incidents.
“In such cases, any citizen can download the ‘I Rakhwali’ app and bring the matter to the notice of the concerned Forest Divisional Officer and contribute to protect the greenery of Punjab.
Maintaining that app was very easy to operate, he said that it can be downloaded from Google App Store or App Store, and mobile number can be used to log in. “There is a list of damages one wish to report and after logging in, the user can select accordingly, besides photos can also be uploaded about the damages to be reported,” he said.
A video up-to 20 seconds can also be uploaded. Users can use speaking mode to record their messages as well. This information will reach concerned DFO or District Official and Department would act on it immediately. Complainant is regularly updated about action on his or her complaint.