Sri Vijaya Puram, July 13: As part of the month-long celebration of 76th Van Mahotsav, the South Andaman Forest Division organized an Inter-Panchayat Knockout Football Tournament at the Mini Stadium, Wimberlygunj, from July 1 to 12, 2025. The Tournament was organized to foster a sense of environmental consciousness among the youth as well as the general public.
The event witnessed enthusiastic participation from all the Panchayats wherein they have extended support by sending a Football Team for the Tournament. The final match was held yesterday between the teams of Gram Panchayat Mannarghat and Gram Panchayat Stewartgunj, in which, the team of Gram Panchayat Mannarghat won the tournament with 2 goals. In the final match, Dr. A. Anil Kumar, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forests (Territorial), Department of Environment and Forests, Andaman & Nicobar Islands was the chief guest. Shri Ashwin J. Parihar, IFS, Divisional Forest Officer, South Andaman and Shri. R. S. Sharath, SFS, Assistant Conservator of Forests (HQ) also graced the occasion.
In line with the special initiative by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ 2.0 Campaign, seedlings of fruit bearing species were distributed among all the Pradhans of Gram Panchayat and players.
During the event, three executive staff of the Division were awarded with commendation certificate and a memento recognizing their best performance during the year 2024-25 towards detection of Forest and Wildlife Offence cases. Shri. P Mohd. Shafique, Forest Guard, Shri. Mahananda Gharami, Forest Guard and Shri. P. Viyakanta, Forest Guard were among the three achievers.