Karnataka Budget: Government goes green, to take up massive reforestation
Bengaluru: The state government has decided to give a major thrust to planting of trees. Among the new schemes the state will invest in is the development of 50 Saalu Marada Thimmakka Tree Parks called ‘Salumarada Thimmakka Vruksha Udyanavanas’.
The budget proposes to increase planting of trees on the roadside. The government will take up planting of trees along 4,720 km of roads under the MGNREGA Scheme and by using 1% of the grant earmarked for this purpose under different schemes.
The budget noted that there is an increase of 289 sqkm of forest cover in Karnataka as per the India Forest Survey Report-2015. To add to the tree cover, six lakh sandalwood saplings will be raised and 700 hectares of sandalwood plantations will be developed as an alternative to eucalyptus in Kolar and Chikkaballapura districts.
For Vanamahotsava, the state government plans to raise six crore tall and good quality saplings. The incentive for each surviving seedling under the Krishi Aranya Prothsaha Yojane has been increased from Rs 45 to Rs 100. Rs 1,732 crore has been provided to the forest, environment and ecology department.
A Nursery Development Agency will be set up for the development of plant nurseries on a scientific basis. A proposal has been made to establish “Poornachandra Tejaswi Prathishtana” in memory of the late Poornachandra Tejaswi, a renowned novelist and environmentalist, to carryout research on environment issues at Rs 5 crore and to develop a Forest Information Centre in Chikkamannugudda near Bengaluru on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
As man-animal conflicts are on the rise, the government has proposed to fill 100 water bodies/tanks in deep forest areas with the help of self-operating solar pumps at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore to prevent migration of wild animals from forests to human habitats.
To popularise wild life tourism and eco-trails across the State, 2017 has been declared as the ‘Year of the Wild’ for tourists to explore the forests and wildlife in Karnataka.
