Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Choudhary Lal Singh today inspected the 800 kanal open land of Forest Department at Sunjwan. Senior officers of Forest and its allied departments accompanied the Minister. The Minister directed the officers to immediately start the fencing work of the land and plant saplings of fruit plants, mulberry, Sisso, Tun, Amla, Guava, Jamun etc. He directed the concerned forest officers to develop view points in the land so that the locals could enjoy their spare time there with full joy. Choudhary Lal Singh directed to ensure proper grafting on pyrus species. He said that the steps taken up by the Government to curb encroachment of forest land have proved very fruitful and now no reports of forest encroachment have been received by the Forest Department since he take over as Forest Minister. He directed the forest officers to focus on consolidation of works so that the works taken up could show impact on the ground. Earlier, the Minister also visited Environmental Park at Raika and reviewed the progress of ongoing works which was earlier directed by the him to Director Environment, Ecology and Remote Sensing in earlier visit to the place. Choudhary Lal Singh issued instructions to the concerned to upgrade the existing facilities for the visitors and make these places more attractive so that the visitors spend more time there. He said environment parks are the lungs of the Jammu city which need to be equipped with basic amenities, relaxing and viewing spots, landscaping and plantation of composite species including herbal trees, rain shelters and public utilities. The Minister also called for creating special recreational facilities for the school children, who visit these parks for excursions etc, but without causing any harm to the natural topography. Choudhary Lal Singh directed the officers to explore development of more such eco-friendly environmental parks in and around Jammu city to attract the large number of tourists visiting Jammu in connection with pilgrimage of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi and other revered shrines. Later, the Minister also inspected the timber store and sale depot of SFC at Sunjwan.
