Bhubaneswar, Mar 22: Odisha Forest and Environment Department (OFD) celebrated the International day of Forests on Tuesday here at Jayadev Bhawan, with an objective to generate awareness among the people about the importance and significance of forests and plants and the benefits which are gained from them.
Forest and Environment Department Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, OFD Secretary Suresh Mohapatra and other senior forest officials were present on the occasion. Odisha CM, Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the state-level program and stated that the state government is making all efforts to keep the forest safe and enlarge the forest area of the state. It is also being planned to rejuvenate the 2.65 lakh hectares of the deforested area. Patnaik on this day also made an appeal to the people to not only save greenery and forest produce but also plant maximum trees and protect them. Further he stated that the government plans to plant 7.77 crore trees in forest and non-forest areas across the state in view of preservation and creation of forest. As per the forest officials, over 681 lakh trees have been planted in the state in 2015.
