MARAYOOR: The Forest Department will bid goodbye to its archaic auctioning system of selling timber by migrating to online auctioning which will make the coffers of government richer by about ` 60 crore annually. “It should be through in another two months, if everything goes as planned,” S C Joshi, principal chief conservator of Forests (Development and Participatory Forest Management), told ‘Express.’
The department has finalised the deal with the public sector unit Metal Scrap Trading Corporation Ltd based at Kolkata after getting the nod from Kerala Government. A two-month period is needed to create an awareness among the people, he said.
In the initial years it might not look that attractive, but would catch up steam later, he said. The forest department in Kerala sells about ` 300 crore worth timber annually through the traditional auctioning system. It is estimated that the revenue could be increased by about 30 percent if more bidders take part in the transaction.
The auctioning of timber through online system would make the whole exercise transparent and attractive. The present system is also becoming expensive for the Forest Department.