Jammu:Chief Wildlife Warden J&K, Suresh Kumar Gupta and Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr Raghav Langer today co-chaired a meeting and reviewed the pending issues of the WildLife Department in Jammu division including demarcation of notified wetlands, wildlife reserves and other related matters.The meeting was attended by Regional Wildlife Warden, Assistant Commissioner Central, Deputy Director Planning and other concerned, while Deputy Commissioners of Jammu division along with other concerned officers attended the meeting through video conferencing. At the outset, the Chief WildLife Warden gave a brief introduction of the department and informed that there are 4 National Parks, 14 Wildlife Sanctuaries and 30 Conservation/ Wetland Reserves in J&K.During the meeting threadbare discussion was held on various pending issues like demarcation and handing over of notified wetlands, demarcation and handing over of Gharana Wetland and wildlife area diversion etc.The Chief Wildlife Warden and the Div Com reviewed the district wise pending cases and issued directions to the concerned Deputy Commissioners for resolving the issues on priority.Chief Wildlife warden listed several issues of the department to be addressed and requires the intervention of the district administrations, including settlement of rights in the protected areas, preventing dumping of mulba inside the Ramnagar Wildlife sanctuary, camping and grazing by nomads in the protected areas, besides retrieval of encroachments.The Divisional Commissioner instructed the DCs to resolve all pending issues of the Wild Life Department and expedite the process of demarcation of wetlands.It was informed that there are many encroachment cases recorded in the protected areas of the division. The Div Com directed the DCs to take necessary action and ensure that there is no further encroachment of protected areas in their respective districts.The meeting also discussed issues of Man- Animal conflict and suggested measures for prevention.
