Forests are vital for maintaining the ecological flow of the Ganga and other rivers. A proper plan is needed to facilitate this, said the Indian Council of Forest Research and Education (ICFRE) director general Dr Ashwani Kumar at the start of a two-day meeting on preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for forestry interventions for Ganga at Forest Research Institute here on Monday.
FRI director and chief project coordinator Dr PP Bhojvaid spoke on how forests would help in rejuvenating the Ganga while JC Kala spoke on Ganga cleaning with special reference to forestry. FRI Silviculture division head and project coordinator Kunal Satyarthi apprised the gathering about the status of the project.
In preparation for this national meeting, State-level meetings were earlier organised by FRI since the project’s inception in April 2015 for States of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
The States have responded positively for planning and execution of the project which will be funded by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. local communities are likely to play a key role in implementation of this project with Government departments, NGOs, industries and other stakeholders.
Experts spoke on various issues on the first day. Detailed discussions on the forestry models for cleaning the Ganga will take place on Tuesday. These will lead to finalisation the DPR structure and preparation of its chapters thereafter.