Tasaduq Rashid
Anantnag, June 03, (KNS): To curb deforestation, smuggling of woods and containing forest fire like issues, Tawheed Ahmad Deva (IFS) Conservator of Forests, Circle South on Wednesday admitted that besides dearth of manpower, there are other issues including lack of modern equipments and vehicles to keep the green gold of J&K protected but still department is vigorously taking actions against the elements breaching forest laws despite little means.
Talking to news gathering agency - Kashmir News Service (KNS) - Deva said the entire men and machinery of Forest Department is on job to make the department more active, effective and vibrant. He said there is no doubt that the jungle-smuggling is going on unabatedly across J&K but we should admit it too that we have not sufficient man power to deal with the issue.
“We have insufficient manpower like forest guards and others to protect our green gold. A single guard has to cover more than 5 kilometers of wooden area so there are maximum chances of wooden smuggling as he can’t keep eye all over”, Deva said.
“The department lacks facilities like equipments needed for protection of green gold from smugglers. Also we have little number of vehicles for patrolling in forest area, so with little means, one can understand how it is possible to contain inadequacies?”, he said.
Deva added that besides scantiness, department doesn’t leave a stone unturned in taking action whenever complaints get reported. “We are not in a standstill mode but are taking actions as per law against the elements who are involved in breaching forest rules”. (KNS)