A meeting of the Committee on Environment of Jammu and Kashmir, Legislative Assembly was held under the Chairmanship of MLA, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen here today.Threadbare discussions were held on preservation, conservation and protection of the wetlands and water bodies in the State.Legislators, Altaf Ahmed Wani, Abdul Majid Larmi, Aijaz Ahmad Mir, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Abid Hussain Ansari, Dr Krishan Lal, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Choudhary Mohammad Akram, Anjum Fazili and Ravinder Raina attended the meeting and gave their suggestions and steps to be contemplated by the concerned departments to save the precious natural resources to maintain the ecological balance in the State.During the meeting, the Committee observed that there is a dire need to save the wetlands and water bodies in the state from the encroachers by taking all necessary steps from concerned departments.
The Committee took serious note over the encroachment on wetlands and water bodies especially in Kashmir. The Committee asked the concerned departments to take all necessary steps to vacate encroachments immediately.The Committee also asked the officers of concerned departments for demarcation of all wetlands and water bodies in the state to avoid encroachments in future. It also asked the concerned to fix responsibilities upon the concerned officers and ensure that there should be no encroachments in future. The Panel also directed the concerned for maintaining close vigil in this regard.Commissioner Secretary, Forest, Environment and Ecology, Mohammad Afzaf briefed the Committee about detail wise status of Conservation and Management and status of encroachment of wetlands and water bodies under the control of Wildlife Protection Department.Among others, Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department, Hirdesh Kumar, Principal Chief Conservator Forest, Wildlife, Suresh Chugh, Chairman, State Pollution Control Board, Ravi Kumar Kesar, Vice Chairman, LAWDA, T. Mustafa, Director, Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing, Special Secretary besides Senior Officers of concerned departments and Assembly Secretariat were present in the meeting.