Himachal has no govt vehicle to monitor felling

 Himachal Pradesh has no government vehicle to monitor illegal felling, mining and fire-related incidents in the mountain state's forests.

The fact came to light in a written reply by state Forest Minister Govind Thakur in the Assembly on Friday.

He also said that the state Forest Department has 37 regional and six wildlife forest divisions and under them there are 198 forest ranges.

Out of the 198 forest ranges, 39 are sensitive ones.

The minister said as per a remote-sensing study conducted by the Forest Survey of India, the state's forest cover has increased by 2.67 per cent (393 sq kms) from 2015 to 2017.

The Forest Survey of India does forest mapping through remote-sensing system once in two years. IANS