Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Choudhary Lal Singh on Tuesday convened a review meeting with the officers of Forest Department and its allied wings to take holistic feedback of the functioning of the department.Commissioner Secretary Forest Department, Muhammad Afzal Bhat, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, A K Singh, Chairman, Pollution Control Board, Ravi Kesar, Chief Conservator of Forests, Jammu Roshan Jaggi, Managing Director State Forest Corporation, Chief Wild Life Warden, Suresh Chugh besides other senior officers of Forest Department were present in the meeting. The Minister stressed upon improving the delivery mechanism in the department by adopting innovative initiatives and asked the concerned officers to conduct frequent field visits to take stock of the functioning of the subordinate units.The Minister stressed on taking requisite measures to streamline the functioning of Forest Department and its allied wings adding that laboratory infrastructure needs to be strengthened for achieving tangible results in a time bound manner.
He said several measures are underway to strengthen the department at various levels.“Our department is directly connected with the health of the people; therefore, the functionaries of the organization must put in their best efforts to achieve the objective,” he said. He stressed the need for evolving innovative mechanism to implement the Central and State Sponsored Schemes by the Forest and its allied departments to maintain a healthy environment in Jammu and Kashmir. He called upon the functionaries of the Organization to ensure complete transparency, accountability and efficiency at all levels and improve delivery system on ground.Stressing the need for close coordination between various agencies to achieve the common goal, Choudhary Lal Singh said that collective efforts between the departments like industry, local bodies, and transport can ensure better results. He said these agencies must work in synergy and review the progress of various common issues periodically to address these expeditiously.