Lucknow: In the one-day national workshop organized on the topic of “Business Beyond Logs and Diversification and Innovations for UP Forest Corporation” at Hotel Clarks Avadh, Lucknow, Chief Guest Dr. Arun Kumar Saxena, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change, UP; Special Guest Krishnapal Malik, Minister of State, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, UP; along with Manoj Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, UP Administration; Sudhir Kumar Sharma, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Department, UP; Anupam Gupta, Managing Director, UP, Forest Corporation; Sanjay Srivastava, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, UP; Sunil Chaudhary, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Monitoring and Action Plan, Forest Department and Mining Department, various senior officers of Uttar Pradesh, subject experts, and senior officers from Government of India and Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand were present.
On this occasion, Chief Guest, Dr. Arun Kumar Saxena said that Uttar Pradesh is a leading state in scientific management of forests. He congratulated the Forest Corporation of Uttar Pradesh for celebrating the Golden Jubilee of its establishment this year.
Dr. Saxena said that before starting the River Training Project by the Forest Corporation of Uttar Pradesh, all its formalities should be completed and this work should be done on priority. He also discussed the contribution of eco-tourism in the field of forest conservation and also emphasized the importance of developing other divisional areas. It was also said that discussions should be held on the possibilities of value addition of tendu leaves, herbs, bamboo and other products by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation apart from felling of trees, and the need for the Forest Corporation to study the processing process of minor forest products operated in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
On this occasion, the special guest Krishna Pal Malik, while discussing the establishment of Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation, its objectives, etc., said that organizing a one-day workshop on the subject of diversification and innovation for the Forest Corporation shows the farsightedness of the organizers and the indomitable will to take the Forest Corporation to the top.
On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary, Manoj Singh, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Uttar Pradesh Government, said that due to commercial exploitation being prohibited in protected areas, the number of trees allotted to the Forest Corporation has decreased. In this context, the Forest Corporation needs to focus on innovation in tree felling in order to remain continuously active and self-reliant. Emphasis was also laid on the need to work towards obtaining carbon credit for farmers.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Department, Uttar Pradesh, Sudhir Kumar Sharma praised the Forest Corporation for achieving significant success in the direction of scientific management of forests, damage to trees and forests in the process of tree felling and effective control over illegal felling by contractors during tree felling in the glorious journey of the last five decades.
In the first technical session, there was a detailed discussion on the subject of river training and restoration, in which necessary action was taken while ensuring compliance of the provisions present in the Act and rules for carrying out the said work in the forest area, the system adopted by the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation, their experiences, challenges etc., apart from this, detailed discussions were held on points like the perspective of the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Key speakers included Ramesh Chandra Pandey, IG, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, SP Subudhi, Managing Director, Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation, Dehradun, Joint Director, UP Mining Directorate. The session was chaired by Manoj Singh, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, UP Government, and co-chaired by Shri Anupam Gupta, Managing Director, Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation.
In the second technical session, detailed discussions were held on harvesting, processing and marketing of NTFP in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, value addition and marketing of bamboo products and stakeholders’ view point. Key speakers included Vibhas Kumar Thakur, IFS, MD, MP State Minor Forest Produce Federation Bhopal, Anil Kumar Sahu, IFS, MD, Chhattisgarh State Minor Forest Produce Cooperative Federation Ltd., Raipur and Neera Sharma. Representatives from the industry also joined. The session was chaired by SK Sharma, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Department, UP Forest Department. The media session was chaired by Sunil Chaudhary, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests/AMD (Certification), Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation and Mukesh Singh, Chairman, Uttar Pradesh Coordination Committee, IACC, in which Sunita Aron, Consulting Editor, Hindustan Times, Bhupendra Pandey, Editor, Indian Express, Ranveer Singh, Editor, NDTV, Uttar Pradesh and Ashutosh Shukla, Senior Editor, Dainik Jagran, Lucknow expressed their views on the topic of Media’s Perspective in Promotion of Diversified Activities of Forest Corporation.
