Environment Committee seeks stringent steps to protect forest cover, natural resources

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 5: A meeting of the Committee on Environment of Legislative Assembly was held here today under the chairmanship of Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami to discuss the measures initiated to protect the environment and other natural resources in the State.
The Committee held detailed discussion on the status of forest management besides, the total protected forest cover in the State, new targets for forest demarcation and the quantum of total area demarcated during last 2 years in the State.
Legislators Mohammad Baqir Rizvi, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, Daleep Singh Parihar, Neelam Kumar Langeh, Gulzar Ahmed Wani, Bashir Ahmed Dar, Ishfaq Ahmad Sheikh, Abdul Rahim Rather and Anjum Fazli were present in the meeting and gave their suggestions on environment conservation and pollution control.
The measures with regard to regenerate the degraded forests for increasing over all green cover and status of encroachment over the forest land and water bodies in the State and the steps contemplated by the department to save the precious natural resources were also prominently discussed. The role of Pollution Control Board viz-a-viz Department of Environment and Ecology in conservation and protection of forests in the State was also discussed.
The Committee opined that the Forest Department must take all necessary steps to demarcate the entire forest land to avoid day to day encroachment efforts by unscrupulous elements for their ulterior motives. It called for strict action against the encroachers and stringent steps to retrieve encroached forest land so that our green cover is protected.
The Committee directed the concerned authorities to conduct a survey to find out the actual needs of the brick kilns in the State and on the basis of the survey the Government should take necessary steps and adopt a mechanism to check the pollution level out of these brick kilns. It also sought strict action against illegal brick kilns working in the State.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Ravi Kumar Kesar briefed the Committee about the action taken by the Forest Department on the directions and suggestions of the Committee and about the working of the department to protect the environment in the state.

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