A special drive has been launched to enhance the green cover from the existing 23 to 33% and to achieve this end, 16.71 crore saplings have been planted so far, said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of Forest Force N. Prateep Kumar.
“In tune with the directions from Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who himself holds environmental protection and wildlife conservation at the heart of his thought process, we have taken up an aggressive plantation programme across the State. The Forest Department has also enlisted the support of village/ward secretariat staff in increasing the green cover,” said Mr. Prateep Kumar.
“We are also working towards bringing down the scale of sandalwood smuggling. We have so far booked 544 cases against the smugglers and arrested 1,199 of them and seized 252 metric tonnes of sandal wood from them,” said the PCCF.
Wildlife protection is among our top priority areas, he said adding that ₹29.58 crore has been spent on wildlife conservation activities. The Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve is the largest of its kind in the area and the Forest Department has been following the scientific methods to conserve tigers. Camera traps have been set up to monitor the movements of tigers, whose numbers have now risen to 68 during the last four years. The support of Chenchus was also taken for the task, he added.
Stating that the welfare of the department personnel is among his top priorities, Mr. Prateep Kumar said that all pending salaries of base camp watchers and striking force and those working at check posts have been paid at one go and salaries of over 2,000 outsourcing employees have also been cleared following the directions of the CM.
“We also cracked down on poaching activities and have busted a gang selling rare animals. We have also entered into an agreement with Greenco, which has deposited ₹11.61 crore into the department account for wild life conservation,” said Mr. Prateep Kumar.
