Jharsuguda: May 23:A significant meeting of the District Environment Management Committee was held at the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Auditorium Hall. The meeting, chaired by District Collector Kunal Motiram Chavan, focused extensively on pollution control, afforestation, and maintaining ecological balance in the district.
During the meeting, Jharsuguda MLA Tankadhar Tripathy stressed the need to make environmental protection and plantation drives more effective. He advised the district administration to take exemplary action and impose heavy penalties on industrial establishments that have failed to achieve their plantation targets or violated environmental norms.
MLA Tripathy stated that forest creation should not remain limited to paperwork and promises alone; instead, a large-scale public movement must be created to ensure real afforestation. To make the campaign successful, he suggested involving school students, voluntary organizations, social and spiritual groups, and women’s self-help groups in creating and maintaining village forests.
He further instructed the Forest Department to prepare, within the next seven days, a comprehensive list of plantation targets, identified forest lands, and locations selected for plantation activities for the current year, so that the upcoming plantation programme can be accelerated.
To maintain the quality of saplings being planted in the district, the MLA directed the Forest Department to issue a special circular. According to the proposed circular, all institutions will be required to purchase saplings only from the Forest Department, and the saplings used for plantation must be at least 18 months old to ensure better survival and growth.
During the meeting, plantation targets for the year 2026–27 were assigned to various corporate and mining sector organizations, with instructions to complete the plantation work by September 25. It was also decided that the Plantation Monitoring Committee would subsequently review the progress and submit status reports.
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