Vacancies in Forest Dept will be filled soon: Chief Conservator N Prateep Kumar

Rajamahendravaram: Principle Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) N Prateep Kumar has said that sports will help enhance competitive spirit and also maintain good physique. He underlined the importance of sports.

Inaugurating a two-day Forest Department sports meet--2020 at government college grounds here on Wednesday, he said the department was encouraging sports among the employees. The winners in the sports meet would be sent to national sports meet scheduled to be held at Bhubaneswar from March 3 to 7.

As many as 400 players from various Forest Circles in the State are participating in the sports meet. The department is conducting the sports meet on a large scale, he added.

Steps will be taken to fill the 60 per cent of vacancies in the department after getting approval from the government. The State is having 99,000 hectares of forest land and underlined the need to increase the forest area.

The department earned an income of Rs 1,700 crore by selling 8,500 metric tonnes of red sanders through an open auction. The red sander is vastly available in the districts of Chittoor, Kurnool and Kadapa, he added.

The department is taking steps to protect forest land in the State. Forests are also producing a variety of products and the department is also getting income through them.

Additional PCCFs B K Singh, Bhaskar Ram, Rama Murhti, Rajamahendravaram Circle Conservator of Forests N Nageswara Rao and other officials were present.