Forest Minister K.T. Pachamal giving away funds to a panchayat president at a function held in Cuddalore on Thursday.
CUDDALORE:
The National Forest Policy has stipulated that 33 per cent of the total land mass should be forests, but Tamil Nadu has forest area of only 17 per cent, according to K.T. Pachamal, Forest Minister.
All efforts would be made to extend forest cover to the mandated level within five years, he said at an official function held at St. Anne's Girls Higher Secondary School here on Thursday. He called upon every citizen to plant one sapling.
Mr. Pachamal gave away a sum of Rs. 51.62 lakh from the proceeds of auctioning of “karuvelam” trees (acacia nilotica) grown in the lake and tank beds to 33 panchayats in Cuddalore district. Under the Swedish International Development Agency-aided Social Forestry Project that had come into vogue in 1981, local bodies were encouraged to raise karuvelam trees.
On a 10-year cycle, the matured trees were felled and sold, and, the revenue thus earned was being shared by the government and the panchayats on a ratio of 25:75. The panchayats would utilise the funds for improving basic amenities and development works in villages. Till 2003, a total of 1,452 villages in Cuddalore district were given a sum of Rs 6.80 crore through revenue sharing. The Minister said that extension of forest cover would bring in several benefits: it would curb encroachments, provide jobs to the poor and fodder to cattle heads, birds' droppings would act as rich manure and above all it would protect environment and induce precipitation of rain.
In response to suggestions made by Rural Industries Minister M.C.Sampath and Social Welfare Minister Selvi Ramajayam, who also attended the function, Mr. Pachamal said that the possibility of making Pichavaram an attractive tourist destination would be explored. Both the Forest Department and the Tourism Department were taking care of mangrove forests that were of tourist interest. It was likely that the guest house that remained dysfunctional now would be reverted to the Tourism Department for revival.
Collector V.Amuthavalli, Conservator of Forests (Villupuram circle) Yogesh Singh, Forest Ranger (Chidambaram) A.Babu, and, MLAs P.Sivakolundu, Naga.Murugmaran and P.Muthukumar participated.
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