Gandhinagar, April 10 (IANS) Gujarat plans to develop 8-10 hi-tech nurseries across districts and expand mangrove and grassland cover as part of a wider push to increase green cover, officials said at the conclusion of a two-day Forest Department “Chintan Shibir” held in Gandhinagar.​

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, addressing the closing session on Friday, said continuous reflection was vital for effective governance and highlighted the role of technology in improving public service delivery.​

“Continuous reflection is extremely essential for good governance,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “provided a new direction to good governance through technology”.​

Referring to environmental priorities, Patel cited the Prime Minister’s call for ‘Back to Basics, Back to Nature and Mission LiFE’, and said adopting an environment-centric lifestyle was necessary.​

“Increasing green cover was key to mitigating the effects of global warming and protecting future generations. Initiatives such as ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ have led to a significant 47 per cent increase in the number of trees outside forest areas in the state over the past 12 years,” he said.​

He called on officials to use technology to undertake plantation on barren land and said sustained efforts had improved public awareness, leading to greater participation in tree plantation, water conservation, and environmental protection.​

State Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia said the state would prioritise nursery culture to improve plantation survival rates and announced plans to establish eight to 10 hi-tech nurseries in different districts.​

“These would include agro, horticulture, and forestry saplings,” he said.​

He noted that the first such “Chintan Shibir” of the Forest Department was held in 2003 under the leadership of then chief minister Narendra Modi, and described the current exercise as the second.​

“The capability and distinct talent among forest officials have been evident during this two-day deliberation, and the ideas emerging from it will be taken forward under the leadership of the Chief Minister,” he said.​

Modhwadia added that forest officials had preserved forest land with a sense of ownership and said that “despite industrial growth and a long coastline, Gujarat had recorded an increase in mangrove forests along coastal areas”.​

He also highlighted the potential of eco-tourism and said: “Efforts would be made to strengthen it while increasing green cover for future generations in line with the vision of a developed India by 2047.”​

Emphasising the need to balance development and environmental protection, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Das said the two were complementary rather than contradictory, and maintaining this balance through technology remained a key challenge.​

“Gujarat’s forest cover currently stood at 11 per cent, and efforts are underway to increase it to 13 per cent using modern management practices,” he said.​

Additional Chief Secretary of the Forest Department, Vinod Rao, said: “10 recommendations had been finalised, including plans to develop an additional one lakh hectares of mangroves and one lakh hectares of grassland, and to establish cultural forests in remaining districts over the next two years.”​

He added that the ‘Van Kavach’ model would be expanded to 10,000 to 15,000 gram panchayats by 2035, and that an eco-tourism policy would be implemented through a public-private partnership model to enhance livelihoods.​

“Under the Chief Minister’s guidance, the Forest Department will work on these recommendations and deliver result-oriented outcomes in the coming years,” he said.​

–IANS

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