PCCF chairs Executive Committee Meeting of CAMPA

Jammu: Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, (Chairman Executive Committee State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority-CAMPA), Suresh Chugh, Saturday chaired an officers meeting to discuss Annual Plan of Operations for the next financial year 2019-20.
The meeting was attended by B. Siddhartha Kumar, PCCF/ Director Environment and Remote Sensing, P. K. Singh, PCCF/ Director Soil and Water Conservation, O. P. Sharma, APCCF/ Director State Forest Research Institute, Suresh Kumar Gupta, APCCF/ Director Social Forestry, Asaf Mehmood Sagar, APCCF/ Director Forest Protection Force, J. Frankoi, Chief Conservator of Forests, Eco- Tourism, Sameer Bharti, Chief Conservator of Forests, Jammu, K. Ramesh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests(Planning and Projects), Irfan Rasool Wani, CF (North) Kashmir and other senior officers besides NGO members, Dr. Gurmeet Singh, President SAWERA and Nazir-Be-Nazir, Chairman, National Society for Protection of Water Resources, Wetland and Forests.
Additional PCCF/ CAMPA, Sarvesh Rai, gave a detailed presentation on the APOs.
After threadbare discussion, the APOs of Forest and Allied Departments worth Rs. 77.24 crore and Wildlife Protection Department for amount of Rs. 44.35 crore for the financial year 2019-20 were recommended for consideration of the Steering Committee headed by the Chief Secretary.
The Social Forestry Department would spend Rs. 5.75 crore in the current year and Rs.3.50 crore in the next year for roadside avenue plantation. Besides, the Territorial Forest Department will also spend Rs.6.68 crore in 2019-20 for roadside avenue plantation. The Committee also recommended plantation of Chinar trees in the Forest Department Closures and under roadside avenue plantation, where ever feasible besides proposing raising of medicinal plants and establishment of herbal parks in the state under CAMPA.
The Committee also laid emphasis on protection of forest boundaries and significant allocation is proposed for erection of fencing and plantation in areas vulnerable to encroachment and those forest lands which are retrieved from encroachers.