Organise Medaram jatara, Godavari pushkarams on spectacular note: Bhatti
Bhatti and Konda Surekha attends pre-budget meeting at Secretariat
Hyderabad: Plans should be formulated from now itself for organising Sammakka-Saralamma Medaram jatara next year and Godavari Pushkarams on a prestigious scale, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu and Endowments Minister Konda Surekha asked officials.
They attended a pre-budget meeting at the Secretariat with the Endowment and Forest departments’ officials on Tuesday. The Ministers said that as works were being taken up with hundreds of crores of rupees, the officials should plan these works on a permanent basis so that they would be useful in the future too.
The officials should start the exercise right away for the works to be taken up on a permanent basis, they said. Bhatti and Konda Surekha instructed officials to draw plans for attracting tourists across the country to forest areas with tiger reserves in the State. Development of urban parks in the surroundings of Hyderabad will help IT sector employees and their families to relax during week-ends.
Development of urban parks and tiger reserves will help the departments earn revenue. Bhatti suggested that the archaeology department take up renovation work of ancient temples and added that temples promote spiritual attitude among people and it will also help the financial situation of the State.
The Ministers later discussed master plans for the development of half a dozen main temples in the State. Bhatti said that they had identified that though tribal farmers were given pattas for Podu lands under the Forest Rights Act and they were cultivating the lands, some problems arose as there was no coordination with the Forest department.
Soon a meeting will be convened with Forest, Tribal, Horticulture, Agriculture and Energy department officials to resolve the problems of tribal farmers for increasing the extent of forest lands with cultivation of various crops, using solar power to energise the pumpsets of tribal farmers etc.
He advised the officials to take up works under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) on a big scale and protect the greenery. The Employment Guarantee scheme is used to take up works like check dams.
There are 59 urban parks in and around Hyderabad and they should be developed to enable city residents to relax from their stressful life. The Ministers asked the officials to explore ways to increase income through urban parks.
The Vanamahotsav programme should be organised on a grand scale and students should be given partnership in this. By planting two and a half feet height saplings, there may be a possibility of better survival of plants, the Ministers felt.
