Chandigarh forest official bags e-governance award

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 10

Dr Abdul Qayum, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Chandigarh, has been rewarded with the National e-Governance Award.

The award was given for his excellent work towards e-Governance at a special event in Mumbai on February 8.

Dr Qayum was conferred with the award for the project ‘eForestFire - Himalayan Forest Fire Prediction’ for Arunachal Pradesh where he was posted last year.

It was a unique initiative taken to protect the forest areas and wildlife of the state, he said, and added that: “With the help of GIS, accurate predictions of fire can be made at the rural level. Information dissemination through the user-friendly mobile app eForestFire has made it so easy that wildfires have not only reduced, but the strategic utilisation of limited government resources has been possible and the distance between people and administration has been reduced.”

“An algorithm has been developed using technology to predict fire events in the coming year. Immediate notice of fire incidents and other forest crimes can be given to higher officials of the Forest Department. This unique initiative not only enhances the ability of the State Forest Department to deal with fire incidents, but also ensures people’s participation in good governance,” he added.