Khandu moots raising of Forest Protection Force

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITAGAR, Oct 2: In order to equip the forest department effectively to carry on with their forest protection measures, Aruchal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu suggested that a central package will be sought for raising ‘forest protection force, which will be on similar line to the central aid being received for maintaining ‘tiger protection force’.

Khandu on Saturday chaired a meeting of senior officials from the Department of Environment and Forest (DoEF) along with Parliamentary Secretary for Forest, Chow Tewa Mein here at PCCF office.

Addressing his first official meeting with the department Khandu in his opening remarks recalled the department’s ‘golden era’, when it contributed massively to the state’s revenue, an official report informed here on Sunday. He, however, observed that in due course of time with 1996 Supreme Court’s ban on timber operations, the status of the department has been relegated to service department from being a revenue department once.

The CM, nevertheless, admitted that the Supreme Court’s judgement was “right”. “We have to admit that the judgement might have hurt us in short term but in long term and for future, the decision was absolutely correct and in right vision,” he said.

Also the service provided by the forest department could not be compared with other departments, said the Chief Minister and added, “Their contribution not only benefited the people of Aruchal, but the entire human race. The effort to preserve Aruchal’s green cover in itself is a great service towards world environment.”

Appreciating the role of Aruchali tribal society in preservation of forest and environment, the Chief Minister said, “We have intricate connection with our tural environment. All our tribal activities, rituals and practices are deeply connected with the forest and its tural surroundings.”

He took pride in the fact that the community’s cultural practices had contributed to preservation of forests due to which the state still has 81% of its land under forest cover.

However, acknowledging that with rapid development, forest encroachment was proving to be a big challenge for the state government, the chief minister assured the department that the issue will be taken not only at department level, but at all government levels.

He assured that the matter of raising manpower, which has been pending with the department for last 15 years, will be taken up with the Prime Minister during their forthcoming meeting in New Delhi.

The PM will be briefed on the need for state’s own separate cadre for Indian Forest Service (IFS) and IAS, which would boost the innovative and administrative capabilities of the department, assured the chief minister.

He appreciated the efforts of the two IFS officers posted in Aruchal on probation, who had come up with a ‘field manual on GIS application for e-greenwatch’, which was earlier released by him. The chief minister also iugurated the release of website for state’s Environmental Information System (ENVIS) ENVIS (http://www.arpenvis.org.in) that would help state’s environmental issues to be linked with a central database for easy retrieval and integration of information, the report added.