Kolkata: In-a-first, the Panchayats and Rural Development department will undertake initiatives for intense forest creation using Miyawaki method. The forest will come up at Shibgunj under Shyampur Block 1 between Gadiara and Gorchumuk. The forest will be set up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Ninety-one-year-old Akira Miyawaki is a world famous Japanese botanist and plant ecologist. He specializes in the restoration of natural vegetation on degraded land. Using Miyawaki method, saplings of trees grow 10 times faster and the forests become 30 times denser. Miyawaki forest is the answer to cities that are turning into concrete jungles. Small patches of forests in multiple locations within the city will act as carbon sinks. Such forests have already come up at Satara in Maharastra and on Sarjapur Road and Vabasandra Lake in Bengaluru. Work for intensive forest creation will start on October 17. A 10-day workshop on forest creation will be held. People from 12 districts will attend the workshop. There will be intense plantation of saplings. If successful, the method will be used all over the state to create intense forests. Senior officials of state Panchayat and Rural Development department said it would be a pilot project at Shyampur Block 1. Participants of the workshop will be given hands-on training on care and maintenance of the saplings. Once successful, this model will be replicated in other parts of the state. At first, tall and short trees and shrubs will be grown and within six to seven months the forest will take a shape and by the next one-and-a-half-year it would be ready. The same method can be followed in cities to create urban forestry. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been taking essential steps to increase green cover. Massive drives to create awareness on environment have been undertaken all across the state. Every year, July 12 will be celebrated as Save Water Save Life Day. This apart, the Panchayats and Rural Development department has taken up Ushar Mukti, a project to increase the green cover and rejuvenate local rivers. All the Gram Panchayats have been instructed to take measures to conserve water and go for rain water harvesting. The state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department has also asked urban local bodies to increase forest cover in their respective areas.

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