Aizawl: Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Tuesday said the state has the highest forest cover in the country.
Quoting the Forest Survey of India Report 2021, the governor said that the northeastern state has a forest cover of 84.53%, which is the highest among Indian states.
Besides its richness in biodiversity, nearly 10% of the state’s area is protected and conserved through 2 national parks, 7 wildlife sanctuaries and 1 tiger reserve, he said.
The state environment, forests & climate change department has been implementing various centrally-sponsored schemes to protect, restore, and enhance diminishing forest cover and respond to climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures, he said.
While delivering his customary address in the state assembly, the governor said the menace of drug trafficking and drug abuse has assumed alarming proportions in the state and is of great concern to the state government.
The state excise and narcotics department has been making all-out efforts to control the menace, he added.
As many as 4,348 persons were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Act, 2019 and Mizoram Excise Act, 1973 during the current financial year (upto 31.12.2022), he said.
He said 4,755 drug-related cases were registered and the state police seized huge quantities of illicit drugs and narcotic substances worth around Rs 829 crore in the international market last year.
He said the ‘Drugs and Children Survey, 2022’ conducted by Mizoram Social Defence and Rehabilitation Board of Social Welfare and Tribal Affairs department was a pioneering research study, which manifested the government’s endeavour to prevent and reduce drug abuse in the state.
Kambhampati said the state government has allocated Rs 920.71 lakh under its flagship programme – Socio Economic Development Policy (SEDP) – for the upgrade of Jordan Rehabilitation Centre, a de-addiction centre in Kolasib district near the Assam border.
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He said that a resource centre for HIV/AIDS would be constructed in the state under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) very soon.
The Mizoram Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) Prevention and Control Rules, 2022 was approved and gazetted on November 1 last year, he said.
The governor said that Mizoram Super Speciality Cancer Hospital and Research Centre would be constructed in Aizawl with financial support from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
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