Vacant forest lands to be used to harness solar power: Pathania

Strap: Forest Corporation to set up wood processing unit in Nurpur, sell products directly to people Tribune News Service

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Dharamsala, November 2

The state Forest Corporation would install solar power panels on vacant forest lands and set up a wood processing unit in Nurpur region where the wood salvaged from forests of Himachal would be converted into furniture and wooden panels.

These decisions were taken in a meeting of the Board of Forest Corporation at Dharamsala today. It was for the first time that a meeting of the corporation has been convened outside Shimla.

Rakesh Pathania, Minister for Forests, while addressing a press conference, said the decisions would help boost the revenue of the Forest Corporation as well as the state government. Presently, the corporation was dependent on the state government to meet its expenses. “However, after these decisions are implemented, I expect that the organisation would be able to contribute about Rs 100 crore to the state coffers and generate employment for youth,” the minister said.

Elaborating the decisions taken by the Board of Forest Corporation, he said the divisional forest officials (DFOs) had been asked to identify patches of forest lands that were devoid of any kind of tree cover. The corporation would identity the lands which are near to an electricity grid and put up panels there so that solar power could be harnessed and sent into the grid. The DFOs had been asked to submit their reports on the vacant land plots by February so that the project could be started at the earliest.

Pathania said the Forest Corporation had also decided to set up a wood processing unit and a showroom of furniture in the Nurpur area. The board was of the opinion that they could multiply their profits in case the wood salvaged from forests was converted into panels and furniture and sold to people directly. At present, the corporation was selling sleepers of wood salvaged from forests to middlemen, who were pocketing most of the profit.

A committee had been formed under the vice chairman of the Forest Corporation, which would give its report regarding the processing of wood salvaged from the forests of the state. This would also help the Forest Corporation generate employment for the youth of the state, Pathania added.