Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a meeting of the Forest, Ecology & Environment Department to assess its functioning besides reviewing the progress on ongoing conservation measures for protection of lakes and wetlands in the Union Territory.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary directed the officers to frame a comprehensive action plan based on scientific principles for rehabilitation of degraded forest areas within a stipulated time frame.
To enhance the efficiency of forest land management, the Chief secretary instructed the officials to expedite the survey and demarcation of forest lands by installing boundary pillars and digitizing the records. This step aims to effectively curb encroachments and safeguard forest resources, he maintained.
Focusing on afforestation efforts, Dulloo asked the department to accelerate the plantation drives to meet the ambitious target of planting 1.5 crore saplings by the end of the upcoming plantation season. He stressed that achieving this goal without any delay was imperative for environmental sustainability. He emphasized the need for ensuring maximum survival of planted saplings by adopting protective measures, including fencing of reforested areas.
Highlighting the ecological importance of wetlands, the Chief Secretary underscored their crucial role in the ecosystem and called for rigorous conservation efforts. He directed the officials to ensure proper demarcation and protection of wetlands, along with improving water quality and other relevant parameters to enhance their sustainability.
Regarding Wular Lake conservation, the Chief Secretary instructed both the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and the Commissioner Secretary, Forests to personally visit the site. They were asked to review the status of the ongoing conservation works and devise a mechanism to accelerate their execution. He observed that Wular Lake, being Asia’s largest freshwater lake, necessitates urgent and effective conservation measures and has a scope of attracting a large number of tourists.
Regarding the conservation of Kishtwar High Altitude National Park, the Chief Secretary emphasized the need for increased manpower and furthering efforts to achieve tangible results. He pointed out that the scale of work required exceeds the current workforce, necessitating moving of additional resources on the ground for meeting the objectives set for its mitigation.
Additionally, the Chief Secretary stressed the early approval and implementation of the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) in coordination with other departments. He instructed for formation of an inter-departmental coordination panel responsible for ensuring smooth execution of the plan by aligning available funds with the envisioned schemes.
Commissioner Secretary, FE&E, Sheetal Nanda, presented an overview of the functioning of the department. She informed that besides protection and conservation of forests, the department carries out rehabilitation of degraded forests, urban area afforestation, maintenance of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries besides looking after the wetlands, pollution control and biodiversity conservation in J&K.
She also apprised of some of the major achievements of the department registered during the past year and the plans for years ahead regarding development of Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), plantation of around 1.5 crore saplings, demarcation of forest land besides other works.
In his presentation, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Suresh Kumar Gupta, highlighted that the UT has a forest area of around 20,194 sq km (47.8 % of Geographical area) with a tree cover of 151.8 million trees as per Draft ToF Report, 2023.
Regarding the UT level BAP, he informed the meeting that it establishes a general framework as per the guidelines of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), on current and future policies regarding conservation and sustainable use of biodiversit