CM Sukhu gave instructions to dispose of the timber kept in the depot of the Forest Corporation soon

Shimla, July 29: Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu chaired the 214th Board of Directors meeting of Himachal Pradesh State Forest Development Corporation here on Monday. He directed the officials to take necessary steps to expedite the disposal process of the timber kept in the depot of the corporation, so that it can be saved from rotting. He asked to explore the possibilities of delegating powers to the officials of the corporation including the Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) to cut the trees falling under the purview of the linear projects after the approval of the first phase of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), so that there is no unnecessary delay in this process.

The Chief Minister said that the State Forest Development Corporation will start mining activities from the Beas river for the first time after FCA approval. He directed the corporation to blacklist the guilty contractors and initiate recovery proceedings against them and ban their participation in future tenders. Appreciating the efforts of the corporation, he said that the corporation earned a profit of Rs 2.17 crore during the financial year 2021-22, Rs 8 crore during the financial year 2022-23 and Rs 10.04 crore in the financial year 2023-24. He said that 100 forest warriors would be appointed to overcome the shortage of employees in the Forest Corporation. He assured that the state government would provide all possible support to make the Forest Corporation self-reliant and profitable.

The Board of Directors approved providing additional benefits to the employees of the corporation for 2022-23, which will benefit 227 employees. It was also decided in the meeting to make the daily wage of the daily wage earners of the corporation Rs 400.

Apart from this, it was also decided to release another installment of four percent dearness allowance to all the employees of the corporation from April 1, 2024 and to regularize 80 employees who have completed two years of contract tenure. Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that last year due to the monsoon fury, 618 trees were damaged in Shimla city, whose wood was sold and a profit of Rs 2.50 crore was made. On this occasion, the Forest Corporation presented a cheque of Rs 51 lakh to the Chief Minister for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Vice Chairman of Forest Development Corporation Kehar Singh Khachi, Principal Secretary Forest Amandeep Garg, Secretary to Chief Minister Rakesh Kanwar, Principal Chief Forest Conservator Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director of the Corporation Pabnesh Sharma, Special Secretary (Finance) Rohit Jamwal and non-official members Krishna Chand, Neelam Thakur, Tog Singh Thakur, Madan Sharma, Ganga Singh, Anil Thakur, Krishna Kumar and Yogesh Mahajan were also present in the meeting.

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