Uttarakhand to Create City Forests

Uttarakhand government has started process to create city forests in all its 8 municipal corporations. The municipal bodies have been asked to submit a proposal in this regard before August 30, 2020.  These forests, ranging 10-50 hectare will be created in the vicinity of the cities to provide the city much needed green cover. The hill state has total of 101 municipal bodies out of which 8 are municipal corporations, 41 municipal councils, 43 nagar panchayats and 9 cantonment boards. Last year in December, a report by Forest Survey of India titled ‘Indian State of Forests Report (ISFR) 2019’ revealed that forest cover in 10 districts of Uttarakhand has increased in last two years’ time while three districts have recorded decrease. The district which registered decline in forest area are Nainital (-6.44 sq km), Udham Singh Nagar (-4.21 sq km) and Haridwar (-2.75 sq km) while all other 10 districts registered growth in forest area. Maximum increase was registered in Uttarkashi (8 sq km), Dehradun with 3.69 square km followed by Pithoragarh (1.80sq km), Bageshwar (1.69 sq km), Champawat (1.55 sq km), Almora (1.14 sq km), Pauri (0.99 sq km), and Chamoli (0.43 sq km).