Chief Secretary Ajay Singh on Wednesday reviewed the functioning of Forest Department at the Mantralaya here.
He had detailed discussions on minor forest produce procurement, afforestation, wild life conservation, bonus to tendu patta collectors, herbal processing and several other issues.
The Chief Secretary called upon the officials to conduct a survey of the river banks for conducting plantations.
He stressed upon the bamboo production and tissue culture. The forest area covers 59, 772 kms in Chhattisgarh.
There are 19, 720 villages out of which 11, 185 villages' citizens live within a radius of five kilometer from the forest region and they are dependent on forests for their livelihood. Notably, the State Government in 2015-16 had decided to have all its river banks lined with trees during the coming years in a bid to ensure a greener Chhattisgarh besides protecting the environment in an era of negative impact of climate change.
Chief Minister Raman Singh had provided special emphasis on saplings to be planted on the river banks , officials informed.
Eighty forest management committees and villages are being linked to the GreenIndia Mission. The forest circles are Kawardha, Bilaspur, Marwahi, Katgora, Bastar, Kanker, South Kondagaon, Raipur, North Sarguja and South Surguja.
The Forest Department officers had informed that the landscape of forest mandals were demarcated. An awareness campaign, landscape survey, basic information, soil and water protection etc are undertaken during the first year.
Chief Minister Raman Singh during the early months of 2014 had directed officials to prepare a Rs 3,200-crore action plan for the next five years from the funds to be received from Centre's 'Campa Fund'. A Rs 600-crore action plan would be prepared for each year, he had stated.