Odisha To Launch ‘Aama Jangle Yojana “
19 March, Bhubaneswar
Odisha government has decided to carry forward the forest conservation programmes through Aama Jungle Yojana from 2015-2016 and proposed for JICA assistance for the programme.
The Ama Jungle Yojana will replace the Odisha Forest Sector Development Project (OFSDP) being implemented throughJoint Forest Management (JFM) mode.
The OFSDP was started in Odisha with JICA assistance fromthe year 2006-07. At present the project is being implemented in 10districts of the State namely Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak,Deogarh, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Rayagada and Sundargarh with the main objectives of the restoration of the degraded forest and creation of alternative livelihood for the people living in forest areas.
The estimated cost of the project is around Rs 802 crore.The project has been successful in achieving the targets.
Official sources said around 12,500 VSSs have been organized in different districts who are now looking after protection of 11.68 lakh hector forest area. Due to the project Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) of forests has been achieved over 1,55,045 hectares, block plantation in JFM mode has been done over 40,943 hectares, teak has been grown in 14,417 hectares, mangrove has been raised over 2,769 hectares and casuarina plantation has been done over 151 hectares.
A high level meeting held here Wednesday to discuss the Annual Review Meeting of Odisha Forest Sector Development Project (OFSDP) asked the Forest Department to adopt community centric approaches in planning and implementation of the forest conservation programmes.
The Department has been directed to constitute Vana Surakhya Samittees ( VSS) in each village and involve women groups in it. Chief Secretary G C Pati has also advised the department to take up professional management of the forests for providing sustainable livelihood to the people.
The department has been further directed to prepare definite action plan for popularization of the common trading brand “Asala” created through OFSDP initiatives.