Bhubaneswar: The forest department on Saturday organised an event for human resource development and capacity building as chief minister Naveen Patnaik gave away appointment letters to 159 assistant conservator of forests and rangers.

"Strengthening the workforce by regular appointments and imparting technical training to employees are essential for sustainable management of forest and environment conservation. Selection of the 48 assistant conservator of forests and 111 range officers through direct recruitment will help in bridging the gap in vacancies in these cadres," Naveen said.

Quoting the State Forest Report-2017, Naveen said: "Our state has recorded an increase of about 900sqkm forest cover in a short period since 2015 mainly because of conservation and plantation initiatives taken by the state, both within and outside the recorded forest area and also implementation of the joint forest management initiatives with involvement of local people."

"The role of forest officers is crucial for successful management of forests."

This is the first time that a recruitment drive for officers has taken place in such a big manner in the state, said forest minister Bijayshree Routray.