Towards a better future

Siliguri, Aug. 29: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has sanctioned Rs 30 crore for a three-year project on forests in Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Cooch Behar.

While on the one hand the project will aim at increasing the density of forest cover, on the other it will reduce the dependence of forest dwellers on forests through infrastructure development and schemes for social uplift.

The move follows a decision by Nabard to extend the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund to the forests of north Bengal. This is the first time the fund, usually used for infrastructure development in villages, is being made available to forest villages in the region.

“The programme has a three-fold strategy involving afforestation, development of infrastructure like roads, culverts, schools, community halls, drinking water facilities, minor irrigation, watchtowers and fencing to stop entry of wild animals. It will simultaneously generate alternate means of income through specific schemes in the forest villages,” said Mithileswar Jha, the district development manager of Nabard in Jalpaiguri.

The scheme also includes training of forest dwellers to operate power-tillers and go in for beekeeping and piggery, the official said.

The project has started in a small way in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri and will benefit 50,000 forest villagers enrolled with 362 forest protection committees, foresters said.

“The programme covers all the 170 forest villages in the three districts,” said S.B. Patel, the chief conservator of forests, north Bengal. While there are three forest villages in Cooch Behar, there are 76 and 91 villages in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri respectively.

Nabard officials said Rs 23.56 crore and Rs 8.98 crore have been allocated for forest areas of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling, covering national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests.