Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, July 16: Advisor to Governor, K Vijay Kumar today asked the J&K State Forest Corporation (JKSFC) to adopt IT enabled services to bring more transparency in the working of the corporation besides engaging required machinery to further slash down the cost of timber extraction. He also stressed for community involvement that would help in developing and conservation of the forests in the state.
The Advisor while reviewing the functioning of the J&K State Forest Corporation said that with the effective internal and external vigilance, the Corporation can be strengthened and more transparent services needs to be introduced for achieving the desired results.
Commissioner Secretary, Forest, Ecology and Environment, Saurabh Bhagat, MD JKSFC Suresh Chugh, Director Finance Forests and other senior officers of JKSFC and Forests Department attended the meeting.
Reviewing the performance of the corporation, the Advisor was enquired about the details of timber extraction done by the Corporation in the recent years and the revenue realized by selling the timber to the consumers. It was informed that during 2016-17, 27.09 lakh cft of timber was sold through auction and 41.62 lakh cft was sold in the current year till now.
The meeting was informed that the steep increase in the inflow of imported timber has reached to 61.47 lakh cft in 2017-18 in the market which has serious impact on the overall sale of timber by SFC.
MD JKSFC Suresh Chugh while apprising the meeting about the mode of sale of timber by the corporation informed the Advisor that the sale is made to the consumers through open auction, fair price depots in Municipal areas of Srinagar & Jammu, fair price depots in Ladakh and by concessional timber sale depots.
After having deliberate discussions on the no of depots in the state and the rates on which the timber is being sold to the consumers on concessional rates, the Advisor asked for rationalization of timber rates and to come up with a report on it within a weeks' time.
Informing the Advisor about the financial performance of the corporation, it was told that in the year 2016-17, JKSFC has realized the revenue to the tune of Rs 13.98 crore and Rs 19.14 crore in 2017-18 against the sale of 27.09 and 41.62 lakh cft of timber in the state. |
