The State Urban Development minister Pritam Singh Panwar has directed officials of the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to expedite the survey of about 200 private forest estates situated in the Mussoorie area.
The minister gave this instruction while chairing a meet with officials on Monday. Survey of India officials in the meeting informed that the survey work of 100 private forest estates has been completed with survey work of 76 private forest estates being in the final stage. The minister directed the officials to complete the survey task soon.
It was decided during the meeting that after demarcation of the estates by the survey officials, the forest department will install the boundary pillars as per the standards fixed.
These pillars will be constructed by the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) to keep uniformity in developmental works. Speaking at the meeting, the MDDA vice chairman R Meenakshi Sundaram asked the survey department officials to undertake the remaining survey work on war-footing for ensuring timely completion.
It should be mentioned here that according to the officials concerned, the owners of the private forest estates are to re-compensate for the task of survey and demarcation with some of the owners also having communicated their agreement to this.
It was also decided in the meeting that the estate survey and demarcation expenditure will be communicated estate-wise to the district administration which will collect the same and deposit in the Government account.
Officials of urban development, housing, forest and other departments concerned were also among those who were present in the meeting.