Ranchi, Jul 3 (PTI) Six cities in Jharkhand have been selected under the Centre’s ambitious ‘Nagar Van’ or urban forest scheme, which will be launched on July 9 across 75 cities of the country, a forest official said.
The six Jharkhand cities where the project is being launched are Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Hazaribag, Jamshedpur and Giridih.
“Jharkhand’s six cities are among the 75 cities of the country selected under `Nagar Van’ scheme, which will be launched by the Centre on July 9. The scheme will be kicked off with ceremonial plantation. Altogether 75 saplings will be planted in each Nagar Van on the very first day to mark the 75-year celebration of Indian Independence,” Sanjeev Kumar, additional principal chief conservator of forest, CAMPA, Jharkhand, told PTI.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (EFCC) had issued guidelines for the scheme in 2020 with some modification in existing Nagar Van Udyan Scheme launched in 2015.
“We will focus conserving indigenous plants of the state in urban forests,” Kumar said.
The objective of the scheme is creating green space in an urban set up and contributing to environmental improvement of cities by pollution mitigation, providing cleaner air, noise reduction, water harvesting and reduction of heat islands effect, he said.
This will also help creating awareness about plants and biodiversity and developing environment stewardship.
The scheme holds significance for state like Jharkhand where tree cover is declining. An analysis of Forest Survey of India’s (FSI) data suggests that tree cover has declined by 47 sqkm in the past one decade in the state.
Tree cover is defined as small tree patches and isolated trees outside the recorded forest area, which are less than one hectare in extent. These trees are generally found in urban areas, village woodlots, homestead, along road, canal, railway line and as scattered trees.
Jharkhand’s tree cover was recorded at 2,867 sqkm, 3.6% of total geographical area, in FSI report 2021. In 2011, it was recorded at 2,914 sqkm.
State’s forest cover has, however, increased to 23,721 sqkm, which is 29.76% of total geographical area of the state, in FSI 2021 from 22,977 sqkm recorded in FSI 2011.
As per the conditions of the scheme, the site should be forest land and it should be within the municipal corporation boundary. Minimum land required for the scheme is 10 hectares, while maximum land size should not be above 50 hectares.
In Jharkhand, one Nagar Van will come up on 30 hectares of land in Ranchi’s Baram area, while another will be developed on 22.93 hectares of land in Bokaro’s Kandra area. It will come up on 9.59 hectares in Dhanbad’s Damodarpur area, on 50 hectares in Hazaribag’s Jagadishpur area, on 15 hectares in Jamshedpur’s Baliguma area and on 11.17 hectares in Giridih’s Kalyandih area.
These cities are among Jharkhand’s most polluted urban areas, with Dhanbad topping the list. The Centre had picked Dhanbad among 102 non-attainment cities under National Clear Air Programme in 2019.
Ranchi falls in the moderate category as per the Air Quality Index of the Central Pollution Control Board. The city mostly suffers from vehicular pollution and its PM-10 level is more than 100ug/m3 against the permissible limit for PM-10 at 60 ug/m3, experts said.
For development of the urban forest, Centre will offer financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh per hectare which can be used for various purposes including fencing, maintenance and administrative costs of the earmarked land to be developed.
“We have decided to tie-up with various private players and corporates for development of various facilities including benches, toilets, light, drinking water and other purposes like construction of check dams and pathway,” Kumar said. The Centre aims to develop 400 Nagar Van and 200 Nagar Varika in the country. “We will make efforts to add some more cities from state to the project in a bid to help cities become climate resilient,” he said. PTI SAN JRC JRC
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