Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna announced that 50 per cent seats of Van Panchayat Sarpanch will be reserved for women in addition to which, all Van Panchayat members will be insured by the State Government. The Chief Minister made these announcements while speaking at a State level workshop on strengthening and developing Van Panchayats organised by the Forest Department on Monday.

Uttarakhand is the only State in India with more than 12,000 Van Panchayats and nearly one lakh members. A total of 10 meetings and workshops have been held in all districts during the past year to facilitate their development under the Chief Minister’s plan for strengthening Van Panchayats.

Various issues related to problems faced in these bodies and their solutions will be discussed in a State level workshop being held in Dehradun to mark Van Panchayat Day on Friday.

The residents of Nail and Bhatoli villages have submitted a memorandum to the Sub-district Magistrate (SDM) in which they alleged that fake signatures were used to facilitate the creation of Van Panchayat in the village.

The villagers opposed the formation of the Van Panchayat based on fake signatures.

Around 500 trees of different species were destroyed after anti-social elements allegedly set a fire in the Maladidhar Van Panchayat area near Mandalsera village here. The villagers along with others worked together to control the fire and succeeding in it after four hours of toiling.

Haldwani: As many as 12,000 van panchyats which share over 10 per cent of the State