Sikkim launches Green Mission III to increase forest cover

GANGTOK: To give a fillip to eco-tourism in the state, Sikkim has launched the third stage of its green mission.

The Green Mission III will involve people, right from the highest official machinery to the people at the grassroot level, in the drive towards making the state a land of biodiversity, state forest department officials said.

Under the afforestation drive, the forest department officials, NGOs, panchayat bodies and the government employees at the village and local level would actively coordinate with the people for planting saplings at all the available land, including the barren ones, they said.

"The people should participate in the Green Mission project like any of their day-to-day duties so that the bio-diversity of the Himalayan state could be preserved which would be a big boost to eco-tourism", Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling said while kick-starting the Green Mission III here recently.

"Sikkim is the only state in the country which has a separate financial allocation for the afforestation drive," Chamling said adding, the government has also made provision for one per cent of the outlay of the various departments this year for spending on the afforestation programme.

The state government had launched the Green Mission project in 2006 to strengthen its rich bio-diversity.

The project had led to an increase of two per cent in its forest cover from 44 per cent to 46 per cent.

Buoyed by the success, the government launched Green Mission II last year. Over 10 lakh saplings were planted at an expenditure of rupees two crore.