Conservation of green gold priority of Govt: Altaf

By
Daily Excelsior
-

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 31: Minister for Forest and Environment Mian Altaf Ahmed has said that conservation of green gold is the priority of the Coalition Government and steps are underway to check the smuggling, retrieving of encroached forest land and afforestration of denude.
This was stated by the Minister after laying foundation stone of Range Office Building at Narwal. The building is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 15 lakh.
The Minister said due to the cooperation of people and dedication of officers of Forest Department the smuggling has been checked to a great extent. He said dedicated officers will be encouraged as protection of forest wealth is imperative for boosting economy of the State. As regards to timber smuggling in Shopian and Budgam districts, the Minister said  it  has been stopped  to a large extent.
The Minister said that the plantation drive on denude forest land has been launched and lakhs of plants have been planted and the drive will continue.
Mian Altaf said 143 nurseries have been developed in which thousands of plants of Devdar, Kail, etc are being raised for plantation.
He said that the fencing work on forest land will also continue to stop encroachments on it.
The Minister said that thrust has been given for construction of eco-tourism in the various areas of the State to provide better boarding and lodging facilities to tourists.
The Minister was informed that in Jammu forest division last year under CAMPA programme about 430 hectares of degraded and vulnerable forest areas have been covered. In the current year 162 hectares degraded forest area is being taken up with planting of 1 lakh multi-utility plants.
Principal Chief Conservator, Forest, Vinod Ranjan, Chairman, PCB, Lal Chand, Chief Wild Life Warden, A. K. Singh, Chief Conservator Forests, Ravi Kumar Kaiser, Conservator of Forest, Roshan Jaggi, Member Secretary PCB, Arun Tikoo, DFO, Sameer Bharti and other officers of Forest Department were present on the occasion.

WhatsApp Icon Follow our WhatsApp channel