Excelsior Correspondent
BHADERWAH, Apr 14: To promote and give boost to the Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh’s Bamboo cultivation and augmentation project in Jammu and Kashmir, Forest Department and local NGO initiated large scale bamboo plantation in additional district Bhaderwah.
Bhaderwah Forest Division (BFD) engaged local NGO ‘Awaaz’ and along with their volunteers sowed 5000 seed balls of bamboo in Malsoo hills of Neeru Range opposite famous tourist destination lake view Resort Gatha.
NGO also adopted the portion of the degraded hill where bamboo balls were sowed and will look after the rehabilitation of the now desolate part to bring it back to life.
DFO Bhaderwah Chander Shekhar said that Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh in a meeting in August last year laid emphasis to develop Bamboo clusters in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. Working on the initiative, we started sowing seed balls of indigenous species ‘dendrocalamus strictus’ also known as male bamboo or Calcutta bamboo to boost the cultivation of bamboo in different parts of Bhaderwah especially on barren portion of hills as this year’s theme of International Forest Day is ‘Forest Restoration: A Path to Recovery and Wellbeing’.
“The aim to boost its cultivation is to increase green cover in degraded portions as well as to generate employment opportunities, which cannot be achieved without the participation of locals”, DFO added, saying, “to achieve our goal to make growing of Bamboo a success in this part of the UT, we have joined hands with Awaaz NGO, who beside sowing 5000 seed balls, has adopted a portion of hill in Neeru range opposite Lake View resort Gatha”.
Prominent among those who participated in sowing bamboo seed balls include Chairman Awaaz, Rashid Choudhary, Advocate Mohammad Majid Malik, DFO Chander Shekhar, Range Officer Neeru Range Shafqat Malik and many others.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
