Daijiworld Media Network—Udupi (HB)
Udupi, Aug 10: The ‘Laksha Vruksha’ afforestation campaign was inaugurated at the Town Hall in Ajjarkad by Ramanath Rai, minister for forest, ecology and environment, on Saturday August 8.
He said that afforestation is the need of the hour. “The forest department intends to meet all people. There are five sanctuaries and 27 wildlife sanctuaries in the state. Animals are also part of nature just as human beings.”
Rai added that the state forest department has planned some programmes to improve greenery like ‘Chinnara Vanya Darshana’, ‘Hasiru Shale’, ‘Siri Chandanavana’. “There is a problem of deemed forest in the state but the concerned authority has submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court. They will discuss problems first at the joint committee meeting and then at a cabinet meeting,” he added.
In this year, nearly one lac acre of forest land has been kept in reserve for public utilization. Regarding Kasturirangan Report, he said, “The committee has submitted a report to the centre on March 24, 2015. About 60, 000 km of natural landscape has been identified as ecologically sensitive area by HLWG, which includes six states of the Western Ghats area. As per the report, there should be a strict ban on mining. The thermal power project should be allowed in ESA except normal plants. There is no permission for sand mining and stone crushing. All red category industries are strictly banned.”
“The forest department has taken measures to prohibit problems of wild animals and they will use railway tracks as barricades. Nearly Rs 212 crore has been spent on fencing,” he added.
District-in-charge minister Vinay Kumar Sorake said, “The government has to issue license for the UPCL plant by considering its actual retention power. There is need to study a particular issue. A proposal on liberalization in CRZ is in the final phase and implementation is planned in it Kerala and Maharashtra.”
Udupi MLA Pramod Madhwaraj said that Udupi will get back 1800 acres from the deemed forest land out of 2500 acres of deemed forest.
There were six persons felicitated by the forest department for their dedicative service in various fields including M A Madhyastha, Gopalkrishna, K Anchan, Subhod Kumar Malli, Mohmad Ali Abbas, and Vishu Shetty Ambalpady.
“Compensation amount has been distributed during the programme and saplings symbolically distributed to students. The forest department has conducted 91 such awareness programmes across Udupi district and nearly 8, 61, 000 saplings have already been distributed. Approximately 95, 000 hectares of wildlife and forest land is in Udupi district,” said Sanjay Bijjur.