Assam CM to hold meet with DFOs to discuss issues and review various schemes

DIBRUGARH:

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will chair a meeting with the Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) to discuss a gamut of issues and review the status of various schemes and projects under the Forest Department, on Saturday at the Assam Administrative Staff College. 

The meeting will take place in the presence of the Environment and Forest Minister, Parimal Suklabaidya, senior officials, and DFOs of territorial divisions of the state.

According to forest officials, the meeting will discuss a plan for large-scale plantations and the use of cutting-edge technology for monitoring forests. Issues concerning consolidation and digitisation of forest boundaries through reconciliation with revenue records too will be topics of discussion in the meeting.

Along with these, other matters that are expected to be taken up include:

*Monitoring mechanism and eviction plan for encroachment in collaboration with district administrations.

*Enhancing revenue from forest produce such as timber as per working plan, non-timber forest product, and minor minerals.

*Development of forest villages and creation of village revenue through people’s participation and outreach programs that include Joint Forest Management Committees, those subject to Forest Rights Act, 2006, and forest fringe dwellers.

*Management of wildlife outside protected areas and mitigation of man-animal conflicts.

*Clearance for development projects under Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

*Status of progress under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 and under the Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation, a French Development Agency-funded project.

*Development of eco-tourism, including the creation of better-networked tourist circuits in the state

Threadbare discussions regarding collaboration with the Northeast Space Application Centre will also take place alongside high-priority issues.

A forest official preferring to be unnamed said that the meeting begins a major effort towards tackling the challenges faced by the department and creating a new vision for governance and growth. The participants of the meeting will be subject to a presentation on the “Vision for Territorial Divisions” by the Forest Department, he added.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

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