District Development Commissioner Rajouri, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, today chaired a meeting with officers of various wings of Forest Department during which measures for conservation and development of forests and its nearby habitations in the district were discussed in detail.Officers of Forests, Social Forestry, Soil Conservation, FPF, PCB, Wildlife and various wings of the Forest Department presented a resume of various developmental activities initiated under various projects in convergence mode in the district.It was decided that Forest Department and Rural Development Department will jointly devise a development plan for habitations and villages along forest fringe areas and core forest areas for development of infrastructure. This will include parks and gardens, water harvesting tanks, water conservation structures, soil conservation structure, playfields, inspection roads and bridges, fire-lines to prevent forest fires and creation of other assets.Further, Revenue Department will identity large chunks of State land to be handed over to Forest Department as land bank for plantation under convergence which will be used for compensatory afforestation and providing forest land for developmental projects.
The meeting also deliberated upon convergence of District plan, State plan, CAMPA, MG-NREGA, 14th FC, BADP, TSP and other funds for creation and development of various durable assets. It was decided that boundary pillars of demarcated forest land will also be constructed under convergence.A comprehensive review of all the Departments of Environment and Forests was also undertaken during the meeting.The DDC asked the officers of the Forest Department to formulate proposal for eco-tourism in various areas in collaboration with Tourism, Rajouri Development Authority, Rural Development, Revenue and other key departments for development of eco-tourism destinations this financial year. ADDC A S Chib, CPO Hamid Choudhary, ACD Noor Alam, DFO Rajouri, DFO Nowshera, DFO Social Forestry, DD Forest Protection Force, DFO Soil Conservation, Wildlife Warden, District Officer SPCB, DSEO and other senior officers attended the meeting.