He said the government was also promoting plantation of medicinal plants.
"During the last four-and-a-half years, 1.33 crore medicinal plants and herbs were planted and we have targeted to plant 35 lakh more medicinal plants in 2017-18," he said while inaugurating the 68th State-Level Van Mahotsav at Pirdi in the Kullu district.
"As per the survey by Indian Forest Research Institute in Dehradun in 2015, there was an increase of 13 sq kms of forest area. Today, the green cover was around 14,683 sq kms," Virbhadra said.