Army chief visits border villages of U'khand

Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Thursday visited the border villages of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand, interacted with villagers and planted fruit bearing trees in hamlets close to the Sino-Indian border.

The Army chief planted walnut and pine nut saplings in Malari village of the district as part of a tree plantation programme undertaken in the villages of both Garhwal and Kumaon regions to conserve the environment, stop migration and improve the economy of border villages.

The programme which targets planting 50,000 fruit bearing plants in the border villages will improve their economy and help stop migration, the army chief said and appealed to the locals to protect the plants.

Gen Rawat promised the villagers to take up the issue of creating improved communication facilities in their areas with the chief minister.

The Army chief spoke to the villagers and heard their problems assuring them of taking steps at his level to resolve them.

Gen Rawat also gave away citations to Army jawans on the occasion for their performance.