Himachal eyeing to earn Rs 1,000 crore annually from timber

Shimla, May 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) With the state facing a loss of Rs 1,000 crore annually, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu on Wednesday said marking of dried trees on the forest land would be done on a daily basis and for this the responsibility of the Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) should be fixed.

He said the government would take action against the erring officers. He directed the DFOs to prepare a list of dried trees by June 15 after marking them and send the list to HP State Forest Corporation for felling.

Presiding over a meeting of the Forest Corporation here, the Chief Minister directed to formulate standard operating procedure and submit the report at the earliest. Due to delay in cutting of dried trees, the state has to suffer financial loss of Rs 1,000 crore per annum as dried trees have been decaying with the passage of time.

He asked them to expedite the procedure, thereby checking the illegal felling of the trees in the forests. He also directed to rationalise the delegation of powers of the forest officers in order to speed up the process of transporting the timber to the nearest depots.

Sukhu also directed to rationalise the staff in the corporation, besides incorporating technology to enhance productivity.

He stressed on making the marketing of timber in an effective manner so that the revenue of the government could be increased.

The Chief Minister said contractors for felling the dried trees would be empanelled so that the timber could be extracted from the forest land in time.

Source: IANS