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M.P. forest dept. goes hi-tech

New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh is going hi-tech to protect the State’s green cover and wildlife by using Information Technology (IT) to enable better networking among forest officials.

The State forest department has tied up with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to train its staff and disseminate forestry related information with the help of IT applications.

Madhya Pradesh, which boasts of about one-fifth of the country’s forests and tallies first in the “area under forest cover”, is planning to ensure connectivity to its interior areas with the forest department headquarters in the State Capital Bhopal with the help of IT. The department has recently become the first in the country to start a forest IT training centre.

Forest guards have been equipped with mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants powered with GPS and GPRS facility, with the help of which they can take pictures of the forest area and forest offenders.

“This ensures connectivity in the remotest forest areas where physical verification is not possible. It help us in checking felling of trees, encroachment and mining on forest lands,” Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (IT) of Madhya Pradesh Anil Oberoi told PTI from Bhopal.

Interactive class sessions and virtual classrooms -- run by ISRO and BHEL -- for officers and technical staff are operational at 54 centres in the state to train officers and technical staff.

The facility will also help train and educate 15,000 ‘grass root workers’ of the forest village committees in forestry and non-forestry aspects, Mr. Oberoi said.

The wildlife parks of the state were also placed under this project.

“Video interactive services through EDUSAT will be started in nine wildlife parks to help tourists talk to the officials at the headquarters, thus helping the visitors to inform their complaints,” he said.

The EDUSAT facility will also assist the department to impart advanced training to students through distance learning and regular video conferencing facilities to monitor the department’s activities and exchange of information. -- PTI

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