'Nagar Van' scheme launched in six Jharkhand cities

Ranchi/ Hazaribag: The Centre’s ambitious ‘Nagar Van’ or urban forest scheme was launched in six Jharkhand cities on Friday, officials said.

The scheme, which is being implemented in 75 cities of the country, was kicked off by Union Forest and Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi while celebrating the ‘Hariyali Mahotsav’, Sanjeev Kumar, additional principal chief conservator of forest, CAMPA, Jharkhand, told PTI.

The six Jharkhand cities where the project was launched are Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Hazaribag, Jamshedpur and Giridih.

Earlier, the scheme was scheduled to be launched on July 9. “We received a letter two days back saying that the event has been preponed by a day,” Kumar said.

Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth inaugurated the scheme here in the capital city. The urban forest will come up on 30 hectares of land in the Baram area of the city.

“The initiative will help improve the environment of the city. I would like to ask the forest department to complete the project in time bound manner by 2024-25,” Seth said in his inaugural speech.

Altogether 75 saplings were planted in each Nagar Van of the state on the very first day to mark the 75-year celebration of Indian Independence.

In Hazaribag, the urban forest is coming up on 50 hectares of land at Jagdishpur, located in the foothills of the famous Canary Hill complex. Regional chief conservator of forest (RCCF), Hazaribag, JP Keshri launched the programme.

Hazaribag divisional forest officer (DFO) Saurav Chandra said the scheme is being launched on 50 hectares and 35 more hectares will be taken up in the second phase.

Similarly, the project will be developed on 22.93 hectares of land in Bokaro’s Kandra area and on 9.59 hectares in Dhanbad’s Damodarpur area. It will come up on 15 hectares in Jamshedpur’s Baliguma area and on 11.17 hectares in Giridih’s Kalyandih area.

The objective of the scheme is to create green space in an urban set up and contribute to environmental improvement of cities by pollution mitigation, providing cleaner air, noise reduction, water harvesting and reduction of heat islands effect.

This will also help create awareness about plants and biodiversity and develop environment stewardship, forest officials said.

As per the conditions of the scheme, the site should be forest land and it should be within the municipal corporation boundary. The minimum land required for the scheme is 10 hectares, while the maximum land size should not be above 50 hectares.

For the development of the urban forest, the 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.