Narendra Modi to launch 63rd Gujarat Van Mahotsav at Mangarh Hill

Gandhinagar, 23 July 2012

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will launch the 63rd State Van Mahotsav this year from Mangarh Hill in Santram taluka in predominatly tribal Panchmahals district on July 30, 2012.

Even as tribal people know the importance of trees, nearly 30,000 saplings have been planted earlier too, in clusters named Nakshatra Van, Rashi Van, Tulsi Van.

A Guru Govind Smriti Van numbering 1,507 is being set up at Mangar in the memory of Guru Govind who worked for the social and economic uplift of Bhils and other tribal living in the region bordering Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In all, 1,507 tribal people were killed in the freedom struggle against the British in 1913. Gujarat Government plans to develop Mangarh as a pilgrimage centre and as a place of tourist interest too.

The Smriti Van is in the series of several clusters of forest, set up by Government over the last decade, called ‘Sanskritik Van’, namely Punit Gandhinagar, Mangalya Van at Ambaji, Teerthankar Van at Taranga Teerth, Van at Somnath, Bhakti Van at Chotila, Shyamal Van at Shamlaji, Pavak Palitana and Virasat Van at Pavagadh.