The Ministry of Environment has launched a programme to plant 02 million saplings of all medicinal value in religious places under the "Husma Dena Thuru " tree planting programme.
Under this, 1000 herbal forests will be constructed in the vicinity of those religious places and the establishment of 76 herbal forests in temples has already been completed, said the Minister of Environment Mahinda Amaraweera.
In this herb, 10 species of plants such as Beli, Goraka, Divul, Ketakela, Davulkarandu and Mee are planted in the premises. The chief incumbents of the temples have taken steps to entrust the care of them to the novice monks residing in those temples.
In addition, it has been decided to establish this herbal forest in Catholic, Hindu and Muslim religious premises as well. Although there are many medicinal fruits and herbs used in Ayurvedic medicine in our country, some of them are very rare. The Minister said that the monks living in the vicinity of the temples are engaged in Sinhala medicine and the objective of this program is to plant the required plants within the temple premises.