Amit visits Bhaderwah, Batote Forest Div, meets locals

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 13: Special Secretary to Government, Department of Forest, Ecology & Environment J&K UT, Amit Sharma visited Forest divisions of Jammu region including Batote, Bhaderwah and Dudu-Basantgarh and held series of meetings with local delegations of the areas.
During his visits, he was accompanied by Officers of Forest Department including DFO Batote Kuldeep Singh, DFO Bhaderwah Chander Shekhar, Wildlife Warden Sudh Madadev Rakesh, Range Officer Dudu, Ayush Gupta and Range Officer Basantgarh, Vinod Sharma.
During his visit at Basantgarh and Dudu, the Special Secretary met with various public delegations including Sarpanches and BDC Chairpersons and gave patient hearing to their demands such as for opening of a Forest Sale Depot in Basantgarh and creation of environment and eco-friendly public parks, whereas during the visit at Bhaderwah Forest Division, the DFO concerned briefed him about the achievements and the enhanced forest cover, afforestation drives and other related initiatives taken by the department for last two years.
The Special Secretary also made spot visit at Jai Valley Forest Range and took first hand stock of development works undertaken there and reviewed the performance of DFO Batote besides directed him for removal of all encroachments in a time-bound manner.
He also advised the officials to take all possible steps for the protection of wildlife while taking stock of development at Sudh Mahadev Wildlife Range.