Information and Public Relations Department, Chandigarh, Punjab,January 4: Forests, Social Justice, Empowerment & Minorities and Printing& Stationery Minister Mr. Sadhu Singh Dharmsot on Monday, said that thePunjab Government managed to clear the illegal encroachments at 18946 acres offorest area thereby resulting in an overall increase in the forest cover in thestate by 2872 Acres.
The Minister, while addressing the press conference atPunjab Bhawan here, said that the Punjab Government led by Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh was firmly committed to promote greenery in the stateand was taking appropriate and effective steps in this direction.
He said that during the year 2017-18 879 acres, 1688 acresin 2018-19, 13132 acres in 2019-20 while during the current year 2020-21 3247acres of forest area has been cleared so far. The total area freed from illegalencroachments is 18946 acres.
Mr. Dharmsot applauded the efforts of the officers andemployees of the forest department who in collaboration with the districtadministrations on the guidelines of the state government managed to clear theforest land from illegal encroachments.
He said that according to the latest Forest Cover Reportreleased by the Government of India, the forest area of the state has increasedby 2872 acres which shows that the programs implemented by the state governmentare moving towards success.
Forest Minister Mr. Dharmsot said that the department hasplanted over 77 lakhs indigenous varieties of saplings in 12986 villages of thestate and established 432 ‘Nanak Bagichis’ with the cooperation of public tomark the 550th Parkash Purab of the First Sikh Guru Nanak Dev Ji. He said thatsimilarly to commemorate the 400th Birth Anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji 60lakh saplings planted in the state.
He said that during the regime of present Captain governmentsaplings were planted under the `Puncampa’ scheme over the lands measuring34988 acres besides providing subsidies to the 1292 farmers of Kandi areasworth Rs. 8.29 Crore for fencing work, therefore enabling them to protect theircrops from the wild animals. Similarly, in the last four years under theagroforestry scheme, a subsidy of Rs. 10 Crore over 115.96 Lakh saplings hasbeen transferred in the Aadhar linked bank accounts of 10204 farmers.
Mr. Dharmsot said that under the `Ghar Ghar Hariyali’ schemestarted in the year 2018-19; people have received as many as One crore saplingsfree of cost from the department’s nurseries of which 41.5 Lakh plants weredistributed through the `I-Haryali' app. Further, in the year 2020-21 underPuncampa and Green Punjab Mission Scheme, plantation of over 4897 hectares ofland were carried out adding he said that during the same period the benefit ofagroforestry scheme was extended to 1185 farmers with plantation of 14.37 Lakhsaplings over the 1783 hectares of land, whereas a total of 9.97 Lakh plantswere distributed under `Ghar Ghar Hariyali’ scheme.
He said that Beas, Keshopur, and Nangal wetlands wereannounced as international-level RAMSAR sites besides the induction of ChhatBirzoo as a member of the World Association of Zoo & Aquariums.
Sharing the roadmap of the development projects for the year2021-22, Mr. Dharmsot said that the department has proposed to plant saplingsover 19125 acres of land under the 'Puncampa' and 'Green India Mission'schemes. He mentioned that the department would plant as many as 30 lakhsaplings under the agro forestry scheme besides distributing 15 lakh free ofcost plants under the 'Ghar-Ghar Hariyali' scheme. Similarly, under the cityforest scheme, the proposal for four sites including Pathankot, Bathinda, Mohali,and Patiala with an outlay of 607 lakh was finalized and further sent to theGovernment of India for final approval, he added. The Minister said that tobenefit the farmers of the Kandi area with fencing facilities, a project at Rs.775 Lakh under the National Agriculture development scheme was prepared andsent to the agriculture department, Punjab.
During the press conference giving information regarding theSocial Justice, Empowerment and Minorities department, Mr. Sadhu Singh Dharmsotsaid that during the year 2020 as many as 10873 girls belonging to ScheduledCastes had been given the benefit to the tune of Rs. 22 crore under AshirwadScheme while Rs. 17 crore was disbursed to 8209 girls from Backward Classes andeconomically weaker families at the time of their marriages.
The Minister pointed out that the Punjab Government notifiedits own new Dr. B.R. Ambedkar SC Post Matric Scholarship Scheme on October 27,2020, which had been applicable from the academic session 2020-21. The benefitof this scheme would be given to those candidates of Scheduled Castes, whopassed matriculation from Punjab State and Chandigarh. Under this scheme theincome limit (both of mother-father) had been enhanced from Rs. 2.50 lakh toRs. 4 lakh. The ambit of benefit under the scheme had also been expanded toCentral and State level institutes of higher education of Punjab andChandigarh.
The Minister said that the State Government was runningthree schemes in collaboration with the Union Government to extend benefit tostudents of minorities. These schemes are pre-matric scholarship scheme,post-matric scholarship scheme and merit-cum-means based scholarship, said theMinister adding that during 2020 benefit to the tune of Rs. 76.14 crore wereextended to 4,68, 622 under pre-matric scholarship scheme while under postmatric scholarship scheme 56664 students got benefit of Rs. 30.18 crore whereas under merit-cum-means basedscholarship scheme as many as 2404 students received scholarships worth Rs.6.45 crore through DBT mode.
Mr. Dharmsot also informed that the SC Land Development andFinance Corporation had given loans worth Rs. 5.59 crore to 417 beneficiariesalong with subsidies under self employment schemes. Likewise, the BackwardClasses Land Development and Finance Corporation provided Rs. 3.91 crore to 228beneficiaries under self employment schemes. The Punjab Government has alreadycleared an amount of Rs.52 crore to give debt waiver by Rs. 50 thousands to14260 people hailing from Scheduled Castes and 1630 Backward Classes.
Mr. Dharmsot stated that during the New Year 2021, thedepartment has sent a proposal to the finance department to waive off loans upto Rs. Two Lakh belonging to SC/BC youths adding another plan was underconsideration to increase financial aid to the daughters of the economicallyweaker section under Ashirwad scheme to Rs. 51,000 from the existing amount ofRs. 21,000.
While highlighting works done by the printing and stationerydepartment, Mr. Dharmsot said that Government Press Mohali and Patiala printedseveral books, magazines, registers and forms for various departments andelectoral material for the elections department as well. He added that apartfrom 1 lakh wall calendars and 21,000 deluxe diaries, the press also supplied ‘Badaldate Vadhda Punjab’ magazine and awareness literature under Mission Fateh toInformation and Public Relations department. He said that the department hasalso printed 500 coffee table books regarding 550th Parkash Purb and severalsecret documents for various departments.
He said to enhance the efficiency of the government printingpress, the department has also sent a proposal to the finance department forinstallation of modern technology machines.