Officer should maintain balance between environment and people

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated the annual conference of Indian Forest Service Sangh by lighting the traditional lamp at a hotel on Rajpur Road on Thursday. He expressed hope that such events will help departmental officers to share their experiences and discuss contemporary issues bring out positive results. He said that environment and development as complimentary to each other and there is need for a balance between the two.  There is need for a solid work plan to overcome the damages caused by the developmental processes to the environment. Officers need to ponder over to have a balance between the interests of common people, environment and wildlife.

Chief Minister said that conserving and preserving water resources for environment protection is also the need of the hour. Looking into the future water needs there is need for conserving rain water. Efforts are also needed to conserve the flow of natural water resources. Chief Minister said that efforts are on to provide water to Dehradun city through gravity from Suryadhar, Song and Muldung dams.

The construction of these dams will save electricity to the tune of Rs 125 crore annually. There is a plan to provide complete gravity water to Udham Singh Nagar from Pancheshwar Dam. Chief Minister said that the officials associated with forest services will have to take initiative in the direction of reducing human and wildlife conflict along with giving a push to increase forest cover. There is also a challenge before us to save farming from wild animals.

Forest and Environment Minister Dr. Harak Singh Rawat said that people’s cooperation is essential to save the forest and environment. Uttarakhand is a rich state in terms of forest, rivers and wildlife. For this, along with the forest department, people also have a significant role to play. It is necessary to have a balance between development and environment.

On this occasion Chief Forest Conservator Jayaraj, Nina Grewal, RK Mishra, SP Singh and other officers of the forest department were present.