A meeting of the Committee on Environment of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly was held here today under the Chairmanship of MLA, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen .Legislators, Shamim Firdous, Aijaz Ahmad Mir, Dr. Krishan Lal, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Rajiv Jasrotia, Kuldeep Raj, Gulzar Ahmad Wani and Anjum Fazili were also present in the meeting and gave their suggestions regarding protections of Water bodies, Forests and wet land in the state.
Threadbare discussion was held on various issues including encroached land of forests, protection of wet land and water bodies, removing all bottlenecks to create pollution free environment in the state, cleanliness of Dal Lake and its surrounding areas.Commissioner Secretary, Forests, Ecology and Environment, Mohammad Afzal briefed the Committee about the status of forest management to protect forest cover in the state. He also informed the meeting about the steps taken by the department to conserve and preserve the important natural component of Environment and Economy, besides procedure adopted for allotment of plantation works carried out along with the National Highway by Forest Department and Social Forestry.
He also informed the Committee about the status of encroachments over the forest land and water bodies in the state and the steps contemplated by the department to save the precious natural resources to maintain the ecological balance besides present status of Wildlife Conservation and Management in the State.The Committee sought comprehensive detail report of Brick Kilns and Stone Crushers working legally and illegally in the state and furnish it to the committee members for scrutinize to it.Commissioner Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, Hirdesh Kumar Singh and Secretary, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Saurabh Bhagat also briefed the committee about the agenda points of the meeting related to the Departments. Principal Chief Conservator, Forests A K Singh, Principal Chief Conservator, Forests (Wild Life) Suresh Chugh, Chairman State Pollution Control Board, Ravi Kumar Kesar, Director, Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing Om Parkash Sharma, Director, Soil and Water Conservation, Javed Iqbal, Director SFRI Brij M Sharma besides senior officers and officials of concerned departments and Assembly Secretariat attended the meeting.