AR holds employment generation drive through afforestation

Dimapur, May 9 (EMN): The 11th Assam Rifles (AR) of 26 Sector under the aegis of HQ IGAR (South) conducted a conference on its new initiative “Employment Generation through Afforestation” on Wednesday in Manipur. The programme was conducted with all villages under its area and civil administration including Forest and Wildlife Department. A press release from the AR on Wednesday stated that Manipur being one of the three ‘biological hotspots’ of India and one of thirty four ‘biological hotspots’ of the world has very rich biodiversity. Many rare species of plants, animals, fishes and birds have their shelter in the Jungles of Manipur. However, due to poverty and traditional poaching, this diverse bio-diversity is witnessing a steep downfall. The new initiative for ‘employment generation through afforestation’ serves both the purposes —employment and afforestation. Villagers were sensitized about the depleting biodiversity of Manipur and how planting fruit bearing trees can solve this issue, the press release stated. The plan was discussed with representatives of Forest and Wildlife Department. They assured that maximum sapling of fruit bearing trees like cashew nut, orange, beetle nut, banana, lemon, yanelak, heiribok, etc. will be provided for every village during “Van Mahotsav,” which is celebrated every first week of July. Over 43 villagers from ‘area of responsibility’ of 11th Assam Rifles along with representative from Moreh College attended the programme. The villagers were thought about the concept of this new initiative. The complete project would be carried out in three phases: Firstly, pits will be prepared as advised by Forest Range Officer and will be inspected by the representatives of Forest Department. For this villagers will be given one month of time. In second phase, saplings will be distributed to the villagers as per their demand during ‘Van Mahotsav’. In third phase, a committee will be formed which will be operated completely by local people. The committee will be monitoring the growth of these trees and will facilitate selling of fruits directly to the market (to curb the involvement of middleman). Moreh College was included in the drive with aim of inculcating the essence of this drive to the youths studying at Moreh College.