Shimla, Jan 27 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday urged the Centre to recognise 29.5 per cent forest and tree cover against the officially recorded 27.99 per cent for allocations of funds.
In a meeting with Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi, Sukhu demanded that the 1.5 per cent Trees outside Forest (ToF) component may be acknowledged as a legitimate and policy-relevant contribution to ecosystem services, conservation effort and environmental governance.
He said that undervaluing the ToF component undervalues the true contribution of Himachal Pradesh to the national ecosystem services and creates a bias against the state that protects trees.
Sukhu also apprised Yadav about the discrepancy registered in the actual tree cover of 29.5 per cent against the officially recorded 27.99 per cent.
He said that this arises due to the non-inclusion of ToF in the consolidated representation of the state’s forest and tree cover. The state also exercises strict regulatory control over harvesting private lands under different statuses for which the state doesn’t receive any credit from the Centre.
He added that the ToF contributes to the conservation of green cover while preventing ecological degradation of the fragile Himalayas.
Later on, he called on Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu and sought his support for the expansion of Kangra airport and urged for special central assistance for the project.
Sukhu requested speedy settlement of issues and added that Kangra district has immense tourism potential and the state government was executing ambitious projects for attracting a large number of tourists.
Sukhu also urged the introduction of special visual flight rules for reducing the minimum visibility criteria from the existing 5 km to 2.5 km to ensure the operation of flights during reduced visibility conditions.
He also discussed handing over Kullu and Shimla airports to the state police instead of CISF, keeping in view the lower number of flight operations and passengers, which would also reduce the financial burden on the state.
Sukhu demanded that the flight operation hours be extended up to 4 pm at Shimla airport to increase the operation of flights and requested the minister to increase the frequency of flights from Chandigarh to Shimla and Shimla to Chandigarh, besides sanctioning four proposed heliports at the earliest.
The Union minister assured full support to Himachal Pradesh and directed the officers to hold a joint meeting with the concerned officers and prepare a DPR for the expansion of Kangra airport. PTI COR APL APL
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