A forest compartment is the fundamental unit of forest management and digitization of information pertaining to geographical, ecological and silvicultural aspects will facilitate better management of diverse forests of Jammu and Kashmir.
Launching the online platform, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & HoFF, J&K, Dr. Mohit Gera, highlighted the importance of having the digital platform which will help in reporting about forest working and augmenting the decision support system regarding afforestation, forest management, infrastructure creation, Land Diversion for non-forestry activities etc.
He further emphasised that the database createdt through this Compartment Information System shall be an extremely useful tool for development of other Forest Management Systems in future. He exhorted all the Divisional Forest Officers to get their staff trained and ensure uploading of data pertaining to their respective territorial divisions. He thanked the National Informatics Centre (NIC) Centre, J&K for developing the online system for the Forest Department.
In his address,, the Additional Pr. Chief Conservator of Forests, Working Plan Circle, Sandeep Kujur, lauded the efforts of officers who visualized such an important digital platform by starting with the Compartment which is the basic unit of forest management. He expressed hope that the availability of a database of all the compartments of the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Department on a server shall prove to be very useful for decision makers. The dynamic reporting of the CIS shall save lot of time and efforts. He explained the training module that has been designed with the help of NIC so as to train the forest officers/officials to fully operate this online platform.
During the launch, the deliberations were held on the advantages of the CIS and the various challenges faced during the development of this system. The Audit process of the NIC was very stringent and it took a lot of time to clear the repeated queries raised in the various stages of the audit. It is hoped that this platform will go a long way in creating a passage for the development of more advanced Forest Management Systems on the analogy of other State Forest Departments like Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
The event was also attended by APCCF (Central), Sh. Sanjay Kumar Sinha, APCCF/ Chief Conservator of Forest Jammu, Sh. B.M. Sharma, IFS, Chief Conservator of Forest (FCA), Sh. S. Senthil Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest (Planning & Projects), Dr. B. Balaji and other senior officers of the department.
Vote of thanks was delivered by Rushal Garg, Divisional Forest Officer, Photo Interpretation Division who expressed thanks on behalf of the department to all the officers/officials involved in the development of this Compartment Information System. He also thanked the NIC Team involved in the development of this System and hoped for their cooperation in implementation of the System in the department.
