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| New Forest policy yet to bear fruit in Jammu Kashmir | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 31: Even after a new forest policy has been framed encroachment on the forest land coin Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources said that over 14,539 hectares of forest land has been encroached upon in the state.
The sources said that the new Forest policy was aimed at not only protecting forest cover, but also at giving teeth to the Forest Protection Force (FPF) by providing them arms to check timber smuggling. The policy was formulated after extensive consultations with stakeholders from the civil society, NGOs, government departments, local communities and commercial organisations. "Although the government has been framing guidelines and issuing instructions for regulating various aspects of forest management from time to time, it was felt that there was a need for formulating a forest policy keeping in view the current needs and future challenges," according to the Forest Minister, Mian Altaf.
He admitted that in the absence of a policy, lack of coordination among various government departments and increasing population, forest land had been encroached upon. "To preserve our forests and check encroachments, we have decided to update our records in tandem with the Revenue Department in a time-bound manner", he said, adding that "critical" areas near towns and cities would be demarcated in a phased manner.
"In fact, we have already started the process in the Bhatindi and Sunjwan areas in Jammu while a demarcation division has been shifted to Bhaderwah for the purpose", he said. He has stated that in order to deal with timber smugglers, the department would provide weapons to the FPF, particularly in the forest areas in the Pir Panjal ranges and Shopian in Kashmir. "We have already procured some weapons, which are with the Home Department," he added.
He stressed that the protection of forest land was being accorded the top priority in the policy which prescribed the reconciliation of records of the revenue and forest departments and the use of modern technology for mapping the forest areas and the management of the boundaries. However, knowledgeable circles in the Forest Department revealed that despite the new policy influential political leaders and some bureaucrats continued to provide direct and indirect patronage to those who have been found usal grabbers of forest land. Experts favour a setting up a committee of top security officials for evolving anti encroachment plan. |
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