Shimla, May 18 -- The Himachal government on Saturday approves new rates for non-timber produce and royalties, said officials. The decision was taken during a meeting of the pricing committee with chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as the chairperson. This was the committee's first meeting since 2022. Sukhu directed the forest development corporation to undertake extraction of the cider wood stumps on its own, ending the current practice of hiring private contractors. He asked them to prepare a roadmap for the extraction of approximately 10,000 cider wood stumps. The corporation presented a cheque for Rs.41.3 crore to the CM as royalty revenue earned from the silviculture felling of Khair and Saal trees. Sukhu said silviculture felling carried out with the approval of Supreme Court has proved beneficial for the ecosystem and contributed to the state exchequer. Sukhu directed the forest department to make prompt and effective arrangements for preventing forest fires. He said forest fire operation services should act immediately to control the forest fires and called for greater involvement of local communities. He said the forest department will focus on improving the survival rates of saplings. The CM reviewed various schemes of the forest department and directed to ensure timely disposal of salvage trees in order to minimise losses and boost the state's revenue....