Navgraha Vatika on cards in 100 Kangra schools

NURPUR, JULY 11

Forest, Youth Services and Sports Minister Rakesh Pathania said today the Forest Department would establish Navgraha Vatikas in 100 government schools in Kangra district in the monsoon season.

He presided over a plantation drive on the premises of the Ratte Ghar Mata temple near here. He said the department would plant 25 lakh saplings on 854 hectares under the Dharamsala forest circle. He planted a sapling and said the department had a target to plant 11 lakh saplings in 534 hectares in Nurpur.

Pathania said the government was endeavoring to increase the green cover across the state and making efforts for plantation, forest protection and check environment pollution. He said the department’s field staff had been given instructions to protect new saplings. The classified forest area had increased by 915 sq km for the past two years.