1 per cent for Sikkim Green mission

Gangtok, Sikkim: Bigger departments under the Sikkim government will now have to contribute 1 per cent of their budget allocation for the second phase of the state green mission launched recently.

The smaller ones can transfer the funds to the forest, wildlife and environment management departments.

This and several other decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by state forest minister S.B. Subedi at the department’s conference hall here on Friday.

“At the meeting, the other departments were asked to transfer the funds to our account within a week so that they can be utilised in time and the utilisation certificates be handed over to them. Our department has sufficient seedlings in nurseries all over the state and the participating departments can collect them free of cost. However, they will have to bear the transportation cost,” said the additional chief conservator of forests, S.T. Lachungpa.

The departments will have to take up the plantation drive in their respective fields and in vacant lands adjacent to their offices.

“Even the panchayats are involved in the green mission within the areas under their jurisdiction and they too have to allocate 1 per cent of their budget for the mission,” Lachungpa said.

The district collectors across the state have been asked to appoint nodal officers for the mission in the various constituencies.

The state green mission is an environmental programme launched by the Sikkim Democratic Front government to conserve and protect forests, flora and fauna and other natural resources. The primary objective of the mission is to maintain the aesthetic beauty of Sikkim and help to make it a “garden state”.

The mission includes avenue plantation and generation of green cover on vacant lands belonging to the government and other institutions. The programme, which was launched last year, is being executed in phases. The second phase began earlier this month.

Source: The Telegraph