Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment, Choudhary Lal Singh today said that Forest department and Pollution Control Board (PCB) have to work in direct coordination to preserve the environment and health of the people and urged the employees of these departments to put in sincere efforts to obtain this objective.The Minister was speaking at a function organized by State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) wherein he handed over twenty-five regularization orders to adhoc employees of the department and seventeen promotion orders to Forest Protection Force (FPF) employees under Government norms, here today.Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Ravi Kesar, Chairman State Pollution Control Board, B Siddhartha, Chief Wildlife Warden Manoj Panth, Member Secretary SPCB Sameer Bharti, Director Forest Protection Force Asif Mehmood Sagar, Director Social Forestry Ashwani Gupta, Managing Director State Forest Corporation Suresh Gupta, Director Environment and Remote Sensing O P Sharma, Regional Director PCB Ch Showkat Ali, Joint Director Soil Water and Conservation Pawan Kudyar, Conservator West Circle Kh Qamar-ud-Din, Regional Director Wildlife Dr V S Sinthil Kumar besides other senior officers of Forest and its allied wings were present on the occasion.
The Minister congratulated the employees who received their regularization and promotion orders and asked them to work with honesty and maintain punctuality. He said Government is committed to provide people-friendly administration so that people can easily approach Government offices for redressal of their genuine issues.Choudhary Lal Singh said that Forest and SPCB wings are essential for soil conservation, water security and for meeting the needs of local population in terms of timber, firewood, fodder and other forest produce. The Minister issued directions to officers to make every effort to conserve and manage the forests prudently.Choudhary Lal Singh stressed on taking requisite measures to streamline the functioning of SPCB adding that laboratory infrastructure needs to be strengthen for achieving tangible results in a time bound manner.
For providing healthy environ to the people, the Minister directed officials to conduct regular raids and make sure that use of polythene and plastic products is done away with. He asked SPCB to issue warning to the shopkeepers and asked them to desist from the use of polythene bags that have been banned under J&K Non-Biodegradable Act, 2007.Choudhary Lal Singh said that the new guidelines and regulations would facilitate proper recycling of plastic waste and reducing its impact on the ecology. He asked the PCB to pay frequent visits in the markets and asked the manufacturers of polythene bags to print name and address on the bags that are required under guidelines of Government, failing which strict action as per the law will be taken against them.The Minister said these measures are being taken to curb the still prevalent use of polythene bags that pose serious risk to environment and wildlife. He said directions have been passed to all allied departments for successful and strict implementation of Government order. He asked the PCB to organise awareness camps and educate masses about ill effects of non-biodegradable products.