Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology Choudhary Lal Singh today said forest guards are the saviors of green gold, adding that, the refined workforce on ground would help in giving better services to the State.“You (Forest Guards) are the saviors of green gold. You should have a will to serve the State and nation in a better and professional way,” he said.The Minister was speaking at the passing out parade of 2nd batch of Forest Guards of Soil Conservation Training School, Miran Sahib and 49th Batch of Forest Guards of Training School Dhoomi, Akhnoor here.He further said the ground force, if trained and taught well, would give better results for the holistic development of the State. He also praised the efforts of Forest Training Schools/Institutes in imparting quality training to the forest officials in the State. Stress should be laid on improving professionalism in the department, he added.He also pointed towards the social commitment of the department while stating that the Forest Department is the only department that connects social bonds and all other walks of life, besides stressing on prospective planning by the department.
Earlier, the Minister handed over appointment orders to the next of kin of 16 Forest Guards under SRO-43.Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, AK Singh, in his address, underlined the importance of forest guards training for sustainable forest management in the State.Pertinent to mention that forest guard training course has six-month duration and the outgoing batch comprised 37 trainees from Miran Sahib Training School and 49 trainees from Dhoomi Training School.Diwan Singh from Bhaderwah Forest Division secured first position in academics while as Nitish Parihar of Doda Forest Division managed to clinch the second spot and third position was secured by Sunny Kumar of Mahore Forest Division.S Harbans Singh of Urban Forestry Division, Jammu emerged as winner of 10 km long Cross Country Race and Best Practical Forest Guard Category award was jointly shared by S Harbans Singh and Dwarka Nath of Forest Division, Udhampur.The Best Duty Officer Award was secured by Maqbool Hussain of Forest Division, Jammu while as Nazar Muhammad of Forest Division, Mahore was adjudged the winner of Principal’s Trophy award.Conservator of Forests, Working Plan Circle, J&K, Dr K Anandh also spoke on the occasion. The Vote of Thanks was presented by Principal, Soil Conservation Training School, Ifat Ara.Among others, the function was attended all HoDs, CCFs, DFO and other senior officers of Forest department and its allied wings.