CS-led Steering Committee approves planting 1.75 Cr saplings

Srinagar, Nov 2: The 23rd Steering Committee meeting of J&K Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) headed by Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on Thursday gave it’s in-principle nod to the additional Annual Plan of Operation (APO) for meeting the target of sowing 1.75 crore saplings besides carrying out demarcation of the boundaries of all the vulnerable forest areas.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the meeting was attended by the Principal Secretary, Forests; Principal Secretary, Finance; PCCF, HoFF; Chief Wildlife Warden; PCCF (CEO), CAMPA; DG,

Planning; Additional CCFs besides other concerned officers of the department.
Outstation-based officers participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
During the meeting, the chief secretary enjoined upon the officers to attain all the deliverables set for the department on time.

He stressed achieving the target of sowing 1.75 crore saplings and distribution of 90 lakh seed balls as envisaged under the annual plan of the department.
Mehta also impressed upon the officers to focus on revitalisation of degraded forest areas and ensure that the dense and moderate forest cover of J&K increases with time.
He said that the peculiarity of this region was its unique ecology and environment, which distinguishes it from other states and union territories.
He said that the department has the responsibility to maintain it sustainably.

The chief secretary impressed upon the officers of the department to complete the process of demarcation and geo-referencing of all the forest areas forthwith before the onset of winter.
He called for the setting up of new benchmarks in the management of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands, and notified areas.
He asked for complete digitisation of official records and fixing of their boundaries to evade any chances of trespassing.

Mehta called for making all the forest areas plastic-free.
He said that forests were the best places to de-stress the minds and the department should encourage people to visit these natural habitats and promote eco-tourism.
The chief secretary advised the installation of proper signages and other billboards containing information in a manner so that people are informed about the utility and significance of such treasure troves.

He also released a document capturing the restoration plan for the Gharana Wetland of Suchetgarh, Jammu. Mehta took note of all the measures taken for the restoration of other water bodies like Wular, Mansar, Surinsar and Shalabugh.
He advised that the restoration measures for the protection of these water bodies should be gauged separately as the department had both the expertise and resources to do so.
The chief secretary also recalled the measures taken a year back to make Palli Panchayat of district Samba a carbon-neutral village.

He said that to achieve the target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2047 as aspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was essential to have Panchayat level carbon neutral plans to make this happen within the deadline.
On the occasion, Principal Secretary Forests, Dheeraj Gupta informed the meeting that the department was going to complete the demarcation of the vulnerable forest areas by December 15 this year.
He also said that the process of digitisation and geo-referencing of all the forest areas would be achieved by the end of the current financial year.

The CEO, CAMPA in his presentation said that the department had an original APO outlay of Rs 272 crore for 2023-24.
He said that to achieve the milestones of planting 1.75 crore saplings, installation of nearly 1,16,266 boundary pillars and digitisation and geo-referencing of forest lands, it had become imperative to ask for additional APO to the tune of Rs 53.44 crore.

This is in addition to the amount invested through ploughing back of savings made on tendering and other interest amounts of the department taking the total additional requirement to Rs 81.24 crore for the financial year.

It was apprised that the department saved an amount of Rs 16.28 crore through e-tendering of its works. The additional works envisaged under the funding include the installation of an additional 89,569 BPs, 8.5 lakh plants digitisation and demarcation of forest boundary lines and works related to protected areas in J&K.