The J&K State Forest Corporation (SFC) has supplied 112929 cft of timber worth Rs. 10.23 crore to the last year’s flood sufferers in Srinagar city for re-construction of houses under Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) till date.This information was given to the Minister for Forests, Ecology & Environment, Bali Bhagat during a review meeting of SFC, held here today.The SFC was entrusted the job of distributing timber to the flood sufferers on concessional rates as per the Cabinet decision for reconstruction of damaged houses through the network of SFC outlets.Appreciating the efforts of the SFC for providing relief to the flood victims, the Minister directed the officers to ensure that all needy people should get the timber for reconstruction of houses which were damaged due to floods on the rates prescribed by the Government. He also directed the concerned officers to take up the issue of early reimbursement of differential amount under CRF from the concerned department.
While reviewing the functioning of the Corporation, the Minister called for evolving innovative steps to improve the health of the organization. He directed for expediting measures to supply on-line timber to the consumers, besides implementing various reformative measures decided in the previous meetings. Regarding the extraction of timber from the marked compartments, it was decided that initially the Corporation will extract 20 lakh cft from Kashmir and 10 lakh cft from Jammu forests for various purposes.The Minister also directed for expediting the process of auditing of all pending accounts by CAs duly authorized by the Accountant General. He also directed for regular conduct of DPCs to remove the stagnation of employees and addressing all other pending administrative issues on priority. Principal Secretary Forests, Mr. R.K. Gupta, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr. A.K. Singh, Managing Director SFC, Mr. A.K. Tikoo and other senior officers of the SFC were present in the meeting.