2 cr saplings planted in forests, 2.5 lakh
along highway
Steps taken to declare Tral area Wildlife
Sanctuary, Jasrota WLS upgraded, Rs 221 cr earmarked for Jambu,
Pahalgam Zoo
JAMMU, JANUARY 20: Listing achieved targets set for restoration
of state’s forest cover, ecological balance and revival of wildlife,
the Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology, Choudhary Lal Singh
today informed the house that in last one year the department has retrieved
around 1.35 lakh kanal encroached forest land, planted 2 Cr saplings to
revitalize degraded forests and minimize the human intervention – the root
cause of all troubles.
Winding
up the debate on Demand for Grants of the Forest, Ecology, Environment and
allied departments, the Minister said development of new nurseries across the
state forms the prime among series of initiatives taken to sustain and
stabilize JK’s frail environmental ambience.
“Establishment of hi-tech nurseries and
upgrading of existing ones for production of quality planting stocks with a
target of raising 15 crore saplings annually is a major step forward
to increase the annual plantation targets. He said SFRI has
established five model nurseries with a capacity of raising 50 lakh plants
each.
He said state-wide drive carried out last year
witnessing plantation of 2 crore saplings on mainland including 30%
fruit bearing species and 2.5 lakh along the National
Highways became possible with untiring efforts of departmental functionaries
and cooperation of the local people.
Supporting the claims with elaborate statistics, the Minister said as on date
out of 20,230 Sq km forest area, about 9000 sq km area is degraded due to the
unabated human intervention. He further informed that, 3.82 lakh kanal of
forest area was under encroachment as on April 1, 2016, of
which 1.35 lakh kanal has been retrieved till December 2017.
Lal Singh
said in a first, the department has brought prestigious Chinar to Jammu
Province by way of planting around 40,000 saplings raised by State Forest
Research Institute Jammu.
He said
keeping in view the massive mandate of the department including protection and
conservation of flora and fauna, the goods and services being provided along
with the ecological security of the State, the fund allocation for the forest
sector in the State is highly inadequate, which amounts to 0.04 percent of the
total state budget.
Lal Singh said that
there is a requirement of around Rs 10,000 crore for treating 9,00,000 hectares
of degraded forest area of the State and at the rate of present funding, it
will take more than 350 years to rehabilitate the degraded forest area.
Under
Social Forestry Department, ornamental plantations have been done on National
Highway alongside from Lakhanpur to Qazigund by planting 2.50 lakh plants which
has been appreciated by all.
With regard to
distribution of timber, the Minister said the forest department issued 556184
cfts timber directly from forests to the families living on the fringes of forests
and snowbound areas lacking road connectivity.
“To effectively deal
with wild fires and minimize the damage to the forest, the department has
provided modern fire-fighting equipment along with fire proof uniform to
the field staff to control the blaze.
He said close coordination among all the wings
of the department and quick response thereof, number of forest fire incidents
have been drastically reduced during the last two years.
Listing major achievement of Wildlife
Protection Department, the Minister said that after six decades, the Sheep
Breeding Farm located within Dachigam National Park has been shifted thereby
restoring 2000 Kanal of land back to the National Park.
“The restored area is being developed as core
habitat for Hangul where about 1 lakh fruit bearing and conifer species have
been planted. The Sheep Farm was a major impediment for the Hangul and its
breeding”, he said.
The
department is also considering to declare Tral area as Wildlife Sanctuary for
the conservation of Hangul by way of connecting natural corridors on landscape
basis, he said adding that Jasrota Wildlife Sanctuary is also being upgraded
with renovation of ancient structures and palace, development of ecotourism
spots, restoration of historic water bodies, etc while the process of
demarcation of notified limits of Protected Areas comprising of National Parks,
Wildlife Sanctuaries, Wetlands and Conservation Reserves has been taken up with
Revenue Department and other agencies.
He informed that department is in the process
of developing Jambu Zoo and Pahalgam Zoo in the State with an estimate cost of
Rs 121 crore and Rs 100 crore respectively.
He said
401 kanal of land in Gharana Wetland Reserve has also been identified and
demarcated in consultation with the Revenue Department thereby paving the
restoration of the wetland.
Emphasis has been laid on revival and
restoration of wetlands particularly Hokersar, Shallabugh, Hygamand other
important wetlands by habitat restorations, water level regulation and soil
conservation measures, he informed.
The incidents of human-wild animal conflicts
have shown downward trend as compared to previous years and 41 Control Rooms
have been established to effectively deal with such situations, he said.
The Minister
further stated that 98% demarcation of the Wullar Lake has also been completed
by Wullar Conservation and Management Authority and an area of 5 sq km of the
lake is further proposed to be dredged out in the 2nd phase for which a project
proposal of Rs 424.64 crore
has been submitted.
In Ladakh, various steps have been taken for
habitat management of key species including Black Necked Crane (State Bird) and
Snow Leopard etc. besides, 4 rescue centres at Poonch, Kathua, Kishtwar and Leh
will also be established.
With regard to put an
effective check on pollution in the state, Lal Singh stated that State
Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has taken up effective measures to control the
Air pollution arising from the operation of Brick Kilns/Stone Crushers
including plantation, metalling and sprinkling of water on approach roads to
arrest fugitive dust.
Soil and Water Conservation department has
taken up up-gradation/renovation & restoration of water ponder/ harvesting
structures in kandi belt in a phased manner, out of which 61 have been revived
and renovated during the last year and 63 are under repair/renovation, Lal
Singh said.
While talking about
the steps taken to strengthen staff strength, he said the department has
engaged 423 unemployed forestry graduates/post graduate as “Rehber-e-Janglat”
have been regularized so far thus fulfilling the commitment made by the
Government during the last Budget Session.
Besides,
the department has also promoted 556 employees by holding
regular DPC meetings which include 154 employees of Forest Department, 30 of
Wildlife Protection, 35 of SPCB, 100 of Social Forestry, 227 of Forest
Protection Force, 5 of SFC and five of Soil and Water Conservation department,
he added.
Earlier, various members including Usman
Majid, Ravinder Raina, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Bashir Ahmad
Dar, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Jeevan Lal, Abdul Majid Padder, Sheikh Ishfaq
Jabbar, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Shah Mohammad Tantray, Altaf Ahmad Wani, Syed
Farooq Andrabi, G M Saroori, Shakti Raj Parihar and Abdul Majid
Larmi took part in the discussion and gave valuable inputs for
strengthening of the department.
Later
the House passed the Grants of Rs 79909.69 lakh for Forest, Ecology and
Environment Departments.
HIGHLIGHTS
· 1.35 lakh kanal
encroached forest land retrieved upto Dec 2017
· 40000 quality Chinar
saplings raised by State Forest Research Institute (SFRI) planted in Jammu
Province
· Hi-tech nurseries
established, existing nurseries upgraded with a vision of raising 15 crore
saplings annually
· SFRI established 5
model nurseries having capacity of 50 lakh plant production in each
nursery
· 2 crore saplings
planted in forests to reforest the degraded forests
· Rs 10000 crore
required for treating 900000 hectares of degraded forest area of JK
· 2.50 lakh saplings
planted along National Highway from Lakhanpur to Qazigund by SFD
· Timber provided to
the people to the tune of 556184cfts in 2017-18
· Field staff
provided with Modern fire-fighting equipment to control forest fires
· Sheep Breeding Farm
located within Dachigam National Park shifted
· Steps taken to declare
Tral area as Wildlife Sanctuary, Jasrota WLS being upgraded
· Jambu Zoo and
Pahalgam Zoo to be developed in the State worth Rs 121 cr and Rs 100 cr
respectively
· 401 kanals of land in
Gharana Wetland Reserve identified & demarcated
· 41 Control Rooms
established to effectively deal with human-wild animal conflict
· 98% demarcation of
Wullar Lake completed by WCMA
· Steps taken for
habitat management of Black Necked Crane and Snow Leopard in Ladakh
region
· 423 unemployed
forestry graduates/post graduates engaged as Rehber-e-Janglat
· Department
promoted 556 employees
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