By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 19, 2015 : The Odisha government has unveiled an ambitious plan to invest Rs 1133.34 crore for development of forest resources in the state in the next seven years.

A high level meeting presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik here on Wednesday proposed to involve over 7000 Van Samrakhyana Samitis (VSS), officials said.

It was revealed in the meeting that out of a total of 12,503 VSSs in the state, 2426 VSSs have been engaged under Odisha Forest Sector Development Project (OFSDP), which has helped develop 2.23 lakh hectares of forests in the first phase. Another 3000 VSSs would be engaged under OFSDP in the second phase.

The meeting decided to engage the remaining 7077 VSSs under Ama Jangala Yojana [Our Forest Scheme] for development of 3.5 lakh hectares of forest resources under 44 Forest divisions of the state.

For implementation of OFSDP, the state government would arrange funds to the tune of Rs 1133.34 crore from government of India schemes like Compensatory Afforestation Fund Managment and Planning Authority [CAMPA], Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and and National Rural Livelihood Mission [NRLM].

Under the project, each VSS would either remain in charge of management of 50 hectares of natural forest or would be given responsibility for afforestation on 10 hectares of land.

While a target has been set to complete afforestation work by 2018-19, the newly created forests would be maintained till 2021-22.

A project monitoring committee led by the development commissioner as its chairman with principal secretaries of forest and environment and panchayati Raj, and principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) as other members and OFSDP director and PCCF (Project) as the convenor,  will be formed for successful management of the project work, official sources said.