NEW DELHI: India's largest forest cover -- located in the Himalayan states -- is under threat. The ominous warning may sound a bit like IPCC glacier reports but this time the warning has been sounded by a home-grown, local MP from Uttarakhand.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, Almora MP Pradeep Tamta has brought to light largescale deforestation afflicting the Himalayan states not the least due to firewood being collected for cooking and heating.
Voicing a demand for much enhanced LPG supply in these states, Tamta has gone knocking at the doors of Delhi's powers that be to include Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir within the purview of the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitrak Yojna (RGGVY).
"The purpose of this scheme was to provide maximum distribution of LPG among rural areas of the state. However, for some reason, the three Himalayan states of Uttarakhand, HP and J&K were not made beneficiaries of this scheme. Since forests on hilly terrain are considered very important for ecological reasons, I have requested that LPG supply in these states be enhanced so that wood may not be used for cooking and heating purposes," says Tamta.
Further, the MP has requested that a new LPG distribution scheme, focused on hill states, be considered. This along with PSUs strengthening their distribution network in the hilly areas so as to offer customized, light-wight cylinders would be a big help. "Since many urban centres of the country now receive piped gas, the government can also route additional LPG supply to the hill states," adds Tamta.
According to a ministry of environment and forest report published in 2009, the forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 281,841 square km. Of all the hill states, Arunachal Pradesh, HP, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura have a forest cover of 66.07%. While the forest cover in Uttarakhand and HP have shown marginal increase, in J&K, there has been a 2% depletion in forest cover in 2007.
"It is true that the forest cover has reduced across the hilly states of the country but using wood for cooking is not the only reason for the phenomenon," says a senior official from the ministry of environment and forests.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, Almora MP Pradeep Tamta has brought to light largescale deforestation afflicting the Himalayan states not the least due to firewood being collected for cooking and heating.
Voicing a demand for much enhanced LPG supply in these states, Tamta has gone knocking at the doors of Delhi's powers that be to include Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir within the purview of the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitrak Yojna (RGGVY).
"The purpose of this scheme was to provide maximum distribution of LPG among rural areas of the state. However, for some reason, the three Himalayan states of Uttarakhand, HP and J&K were not made beneficiaries of this scheme. Since forests on hilly terrain are considered very important for ecological reasons, I have requested that LPG supply in these states be enhanced so that wood may not be used for cooking and heating purposes," says Tamta.
Further, the MP has requested that a new LPG distribution scheme, focused on hill states, be considered. This along with PSUs strengthening their distribution network in the hilly areas so as to offer customized, light-wight cylinders would be a big help. "Since many urban centres of the country now receive piped gas, the government can also route additional LPG supply to the hill states," adds Tamta.
According to a ministry of environment and forest report published in 2009, the forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 281,841 square km. Of all the hill states, Arunachal Pradesh, HP, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura have a forest cover of 66.07%. While the forest cover in Uttarakhand and HP have shown marginal increase, in J&K, there has been a 2% depletion in forest cover in 2007.
"It is true that the forest cover has reduced across the hilly states of the country but using wood for cooking is not the only reason for the phenomenon," says a senior official from the ministry of environment and forests.
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