National Forest Martyrs Day observed at Zoo

Hyderabad: The National Forest Martyrs Day was observed at Nehru Zoological Park on Sunday as the Minister for Environment and Forest Indrakaran Reddy paid tributes to those who sacrificed their lives to protect the wildlife and forests.

Indrakaran Reddy said that from 1984 to 2022, a total of 21 officials and staff in Telangana lost their lives while discharging duties for the protection of forest wealth.

Lauding the commendable job of forest officials for the protection of natural resources, the Minister said that during 2021-2022, the forest authorities registered a total of 11,669 cases and imposed a fine of Rs 14.07 crore as part of forest protection. Similarly, Rs 7.31 crore of timber was seized and a total of 1,634 vehicles were confiscated. 1133 cases of forest land encroachment have also been registered, he said.

The Minister informed that in order to strengthen the Forest Department, the State government is filling up employees and staff appointments on a timely basis.

"The government has sanctioned the recruitment of 92 Forest Section Officers (FSO's), 14 Forest Range Officers (FROs), and 1393 Forest Beat Officers (FBO's) this year. Besides, 2,173 vehicles were handed over to the forest officials and staff", he added.

Indrakaran Reddy further said that under the Jungle Bachao-Jungle Badao scheme, the State government was initiating large-scale measures, encouraging people's participation for the protection of the existing forests as well as the revival of the degraded forests.