CHANDIGARH: No research studies are ongoing in the six-acre State Forest Research Institute (SFRI) at Majara Kalan village near Ludhiana as the institute is not yet operational.
In December last year, the state government had hurriedly given the additional charge of director of SFRI to Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Dharminder Kumar, who is presently the Chief Conservator of Forests (Plains), Punjab. Charges of additional director and deputy director were given to other officers in addition to their present postings. No regular officers were appointed.
Sixty-three personnel are to be appointed in SFRI, which hasn’t happened yet. Appointments of 14 scientists, a research officer, library and laboratory staff and others are yet to be done.
“As no staff has been appointed, no work can start as no equipment for research work can be purchased. Everything is on paper. It is just to say that the state now has a research institute,’’ said an official.
The state government has not even sanctioned a budget for the institute for buying equipment, furniture and other items, besides day-to-day expenses.
This institute was to be built on the lines of the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, which was established in 1906 during the British period. Such state institutes exist in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka.
The State PWD and B&R department is yet to hand over the newly-built building of the institute to the state forest department.
Research on the survival of indigenous varieties of trees in the state is proposed to be carried out at SFRI.
Additional Chief Secretary (Forest and Wildlife), Punjab, Vishwajeet Khanna said: “We are in the process of making it operational.’’
As per the forest survey of India, Punjab has 6.87 per cent forest area, which it aims to raise to 15 per cent by 2020.