Excelsior Correspondent
KATRA, Nov 24: A group of 25 Indian Forest Service officers from various parts of the country, currently participating in a week-long training programme on ‘Creating Motivational and Sustainable Development Organisation’, at the School of Business, Faculty of Management, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Kakryal, had an interaction session with Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Chief Executive Officer and other officers of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, at Spiritual Growth Centre, here today.
This training programme has been sponsored by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The interaction was part of a field visit of the training programme.
Sahu, while interacting with the IFS officers, informed them about the aims, objectives and the history of the establishment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and the initiatives taken by the Board for creating infrastructure and required logistics for facilitation of near 10 million pilgrims who visit the Shrine every year. This, he said, has resulted in a complete transformation of the facilities and progressive increase in the number of pilgrims over the past 30 years.
The CEO gave details about the greening activities of the Shrine Board and the initiatives taken for protection of the environment of the area. He informed that as part of this initiative, an Annual Greening Plan is being implemented in the Shrine area and measures are being taken for the protection of forests as well as enhancing the green cover in the Trikuta Hills. He added that over 20 lakh plants have been planted in the Shrine area over the past few years.
Sahu also informed about the green technologies being implemented by the Board for harvesting solar energy and rainwater, besides measures being taken for solid and waste water management in a scientific manner, including installation of Sewage Treatment Plants along the track, in the Bhawan area and at various establishments of the Board.
He further informed the officers that to promote the green technologies and to curb the use of plastic and polythene, the Shrine Board is using woven cloth based bags for prasad. Besides, the polythene prasad pouches have recently been replaced with paper pouches. The Board also disbanded other polythene packing and plastic spoons in the Shrine area and started using corn starch based material for packing and spoons.
The visiting IFS officers described the varied facilities made available by the Shrine Board for the pilgrims as outstanding and exemplary.
Dr. M. K. Kumar, Additional CEO, SMVDSB and Dr. Supran Sharma of the SMVDU, who is Coordinator of the training programme, were present on the occasion.
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