Amid rising temperatures and increased risk of wildfires, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Sunday directed the Forest Department to take swift, coordinated action to prevent and control forest fires across the state.   The Chief Minister, chairing a Pricing Committee meeting in Shimla, emphasized the need for immediate response mechanisms, stressing that forest fire operation services must be activated without delay at the first sign of a blaze. He called for active participation of local communities in early detection and prevention efforts. People living near forests are our first line of defence. Their involvement is crucial, said Sukhu.   He also directed the department to work on improving the survival rate of saplings planted under afforestation and reforestation programmes, underlining the importance of forest sustainability and climate resilience.   In a move aimed at increasing transparency and efficiency, Sukhu instructed the Forest Development Corporation to stop outsourcing the extraction of cedar wood stumps and instead carry out the task directly. He also asked for a detailed roadmap to extract nearly 10,000 cedar stumps lying across forest areas.   During the meeting, which was the first of its kind since 2022, the Pricing Committee approved revised royalty rates for non-timber forest produce. The Forest Development Corporation presented a cheque of Rs 41.30 crore to the Chief Minister as royalty revenue earned from silvicultural felling of khair and sal trees, conducted with the approval of the Supreme Court.   The Chief Minister said that the selective felling has proven to be ecologically beneficial and has added significantly to the state exchequer. He further directed the officials to expedite the disposal of salvage trees to avoid losses and enhance forest-based revenue.

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