A 5-member delegation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) met chief secretary Alok Kumar Jain today.
This Japanese agency will work on a Non-timber fire project in the hill and forest areas of the state .
The chief secretary told them that besides natural splendour,Uttarakhand was blessed with vast forest wealth. He said such projects were required to raise the economic and social standard of the people living in the hill areas.
He said the project would provide employment opportunities to the local people . The chief secretary also said that they should initiate experiments in the sphere of alternate sources of energy.
Jain said that the Japanese cooperation agency would work in 22 forest divisions in the state and Rs.655 crore would be invested in the project which would carry on for ten years .
He said that another group from the Japanese agency would come in the near future and make a project report after surveying the area.
The chief secretary told Principal Secretary (forests ) Ramaswamy that all facilities be provided to them for implementing the project.
Present at the meeting were Deputy Assistant Director of JICA ,PCCF RBS Rawat ,additional secretary (forests) Manoj Chandran ,STS Lepcha and Anup Malik.
