The 1,72,636 tress worth Rs. 539.40 crore have been technically sanctioned during 2012-13 to 23-08-2014, for extraction, by the State Forest Corporation (SFC) , for meeting the timber demand of the people of the State.The Information was given by the Minister for Environment and Forests, Mian Altaf while replying to a question by Syed Mohammad Rafiq Shah.The Minister further informed that SFC has recently taken up mechanised extraction of timber on pilot basis by using Power Chain Saws. This has been started during this year in SFC North Extraction Circle (Sopore) and SFC West Extraction Circle (Rajouri) and the results so far are encouraging. He said that based on success of this venture SFC intends to take up mechanized extraction by using modern machinery on a large scale.
The Minister said that unlike Europe, forests of J&K occupy the slopes of Himalayan mountain ranges, which are very steep and fragile and not suitable for the kind of mechanization practiced in Europe. He said that the need for providing employment opportunities to local people skilled in various lumbering operations has to be considered vis-a-vis mechanization of timber extraction. (CNS)