Kulgam, Nov 27: In a first, the special Kulgam Forest Division started an initiative to process the timber sanctions to the forest dwellers through an online mode which will reduce the in-office visits and time of the people.
Earlier, the people had to physically visit offices to get sanctions done and had to wait a long time to obtain sanctions from the Forest Department.
An official told Rising Kashmir that the first timber sanction was handed over to a widow of Damhal Hanjipora (D H Pora) a subdivision in Kulgam district.
“The lady from D H Pora became the first person to get the timber for her under-construction house after procuring the documents formalities through online mode,” says Syed Wasim, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Kulgam, adding this is the first of its kind initiative in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.
“Now, people living within a five-kilometre radius of the forest zone have to submit and obtain wood sanctions at their fingertips by visiting the website rehbarkulgam.com,” the officer said.
Notably, forest dwellers generally belong to scheduled tribes and are used to obtain subsidized timber under the Kashmir Forest Notice program.
Shabir Ahmad, a local, said that he had applied for timber under the Kashmir Forest notice programme back in 2019 but he couldn’t get timber till now.
“With the online mode, I received sanctions within four working days,” he added.
An official said that they have received 32 applications through the ‘rehbarkulgam portal’ for the issuance of timber so far.
“We got 32 applications, of which 22 are sanctioned and 10 applications are underverificationprocess,” he said.
With the hassle-free process, the office receives a good number of applications for timber sanctions. He said the priority is to serve the public as best we can.
