The Hon’ble Minister for Forests, Environment, Law and Endowments A.Indra Karan Reddy inaugurated the two day Workshop of Forest Officers at Forest Academy, Dulapally today. The Minister expressed happiness at the extended monsoon rains that really helped in the establishment of plantations. He appreciated the tradition of holding such workshop once in six-months so that officers can discuss various issues and together come up with practical solutions.
He mentioned that the support of Hon’ble CM for Forest department is unprecedented. The CM recently formed a five-minister committee to look in to ways by which green cover/forest protection etc. in the state could be improved. The committee would be meeting very soon and chalk out a road map.
The Minister released the annual plan of operations for 2019-20 under CAMPA and said that approval is given for Rs.501.26 crore which is the largest in over the last ten years. He called up on the officers to utilize the fund effectively in view of the recent recruitment of over 67 Forest Range Officers, 90 section officers and 1857 Beat Officers and with a total strength of nearly 7,000 manpower. Budget for other important items of works would also be presented to finance department again, he said.
He exhorted the officers to keep the goal as achieving 33% of green cover in the state. Responsibility of the forest officers is not only to raise good quality seedlings, but covers protection and survival of plants in an integrated manner. Three crores of Tall seedlings to be raised and plan for raising 100 crore seedlings for coming year.
Hon’ble Minister emphasized that forest protection should receive highest attention. Additional resources like use of Drones, CC cameras, etc would be provided. Boundary trench work would be continued to permanently mark forest boundaries and more than 2000 vehicles are sanctioned for the department for effective protection. PD Act would be used wherever required to curb smuggling of forest produce.
The Special Chief Secretary Environment, Forest, Science & Technology Rajeshwar Tiwari highlighted that the government would provide all the support to the department. He mentioned that the role being played by the department is not just for present but for the future of human existence. He recalled the campaign being run by Greta Thunberg for saving the planet Earth for future generations. He assured that reconciliation of forest lands and their recording in revenue records would be given top priority.
The PCCF and Head of Forest Force R.Sobha assured that with all the support that the government is extending, the department would try its best to reach the expectations. P.Raghuveer, VC&MD TSFDC called for active involvement of people in management of forests. He recalled recent example in Jangaon where Seetaphal was protected and the benefits were shared between the people and the forest department. The Director TS Forest Academy stressed that all the newly recruited FSOs and FBOs need to be trained in as much less time as possible and called up on the field officers to nominate officers as per schedule.
The Lokesh Jayaswal, APPCF CAMPA made a brief presentation on the visit to Brazil where he participated in the International union of Forest Research Organisations. He mentioned that there was great appreciation from various countries for the initiatives taken in Telangana for Greening. Leadership of the Hon’ble CM, support of government and departmental systems were identified as critical areas that contributed to Telangana Ku Haritha Haram.
The Swargam Srinivas, APCCF (Admn.) welcomed the delegates to the Workshop and called up everyone to participate actively. Sri.Munindra, PCCF (Admn), Circle Heads, DFOs and FDOs numbering over 120 attended the workshop.
