The State Government will retain the existing forest area of the State intact at any cost.

The Government will also involve those forest dwellers, who have been allowed to stay inside the forest by the legislation on the right of the forest dwellers, in the process of forest management, said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi here today. He was replying to a question at a press conference.

Vadodara: While it may be common place to find heritage monuments and sites in our midst, few may have heard of heritage trees. In an attempt to preserve rare, big and trees that have some historical significance, the forest department has identified 10 such trees in Vadodara district.

The Forest Department is launching 'Jungle Lagao-Kamao' programme with a view to ensuring improvement of degraded forests as well as providing additional source of livelihood to the residents of villages adjoining forests.

The Saaja, Arjun, and Saal trees, which are available plenty in the forests, will now be used for the production of tusser on them. To start with, 2000 hectare area of forests has been identified for tusser production this year.

B. Aravind Kumar

Chennai: The State Forest Department will be recruiting nearly 700 frontline staff in the coming months to bolster its conservation efforts, according to Debendranath Sarangi, Principal Secretary, Environment and Forests.