Maharashtra forest officials laud Telangana counterparts

​Hyderabad: Maharashtra Forest officials appreciated the efforts of the State Forest Department to adopt alternative ways to increase forest cover using the funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

According to the Forest officials, a delegation led by senior Indian Forest Service officer G Sai Prakash, Additional Forest Conservation officer Vikas Gupta and Chief Conservator of Forests B S Hooda were touring the State to understand various practices adopted by the State to increase the forest area by adopting alternative practices.

State Principal Chief Conservator of Forests P K Jha said the team was taking stock of efforts in increasing the survival rates. In a meeting with the senior officials of the Forest Department at Aranya Bhavan held on Wednesday, Jha briefed the visiting delegation how large chunks of forest lands had been alienated for constructing irrigation projects, Mission Bhagiratha and other projects. It was against this backdrop that the Forest Department was taking government lands and growing not less than 1,000 saplings in a one hector land to grow alternative forests, he said.

He said the Forest officials adopted a two-tier strategy to grow alternative forests in the Non-Forest Lands (NFLs) given to them in lieu of the forest lands diverted for various projects. When such lands are not available then steps have been taken to rejuvenate the Degraded Forest Lands (DFLs).

State Forest officials briefed how they have been extending their cooperation to the State government in its proposals to implement various projects without deviating and violating the forest conservation laws. This, in turn, helping to get faster forest clearances from the Centre, they added.

The Maharashtra team expressed confidence that people of the State would reap the benefits of the Telangana ku Haritha Haram in few years. They said Maharashtra too was making efforts to enroll about one crore people to form a green army. Similarly, a dedicated toll-free number 926 has been introduced for complaints related to the forest department.

The Maharashtra officials have also briefed their Telangana counterparts on the steps taken to conserve tiger habitats and to increase the number of tigers in Maharashtra Tiger Reserves. Additional Forest Conservation Officers Prudhvi Raj, Raghuveer and senior officials Munindra, Lokesh Jaiswal, Sobha, Sunil Kumar Gupta, Tirupataiah and Kukreti and others were present at the meeting.