After the recent forest fire in Uttarakhand, Haryana Government has cautioned the people of the State against possibility of forest fire in summer season.
Haryana Forests Minister Rao Narbir Singh on Wednesday while cautioning the people about possibility of forest fire in summer season said that such incidents could be prevented by remaining alert.
Rao Narbir termed the recent forest fire in Uttarakhand as tragic. The unprecedented disaster has reportedly destroyed nearly 4,000 hectare forest cover across 13 districts in Uttarakhand, killing 9 people and injuring 17.
As per the India State of Forest Report 2015 released by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), the forest cover in Haryana is 1584 sq km. The forest cover which was 1586 sq km (2013) in Haryana has gone down to 1584 sq km recording a decline of 2 sq km (around 500 acres).
Meanwhile, giving details of programmes launched to increase green cover in Haryana, the Minister said that a unique scheme ‘Har Ghar Hariyali-Haryana Ki Khushhali’ has been introduced under which 1.52 crore saplings have been planted over an area of 17,303 hectares.
He said that with a view to making the ‘Green India Mission’ as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a grand success, five crore saplings would be planted on railway land. An agreement to this effect has been signed between Haryana Government and the Union Ministries of Railways and Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
Under this agreement, 1.25 lakh saplings would be planted over an area of 115 hectares along Sonipat-Jind and Rohtak-Rewari railway lines in the initial phase.
Rao Narbir Singh, who is also Haryana’s Public Works (Buildings and Roads) Minister informed that the Department would soon implement a scheme to make roads pothole free, under which a WhatsApp number would be issued to enable the people to register their complaints about damaged roads.
Such roads would be repaired within 72 hours of the receipt of the complaint, said he adding that this scheme would be launched as a part of the series of
schemes and programmes being implemented in Golden Jubilee year of inception of Haryana.
The Minister informed that for the first time in Haryana, German-based green technology would be used for construction of roads. A stretch of five kilometers of Sultanpur road near Hansi is being constructed with this technology and in the second phase, this technology would be used to construct roads in Gurgaon and Karnal.
The Minister said that the Union Railway Ministry has been urged to abolish unmanned railway crossings and approval has been granted for construction of railway overbridges at nine locations. Apart from this, 24 ROBs are presently under construction and there is a plan to construct 46 ROBs during the current financial year.
He further said that at present, the PWD Department is maintaining road length of 24,732kms. It includes 1,284 km national highways, 1,801km state roads, 1,395 km main district roads and 20,384 km other district roads. This year, rural roads connecting three villages with a total length of 1,580 km would be widened from 12 feet to 18 feet, he added.