Telangana’s afforestation programmes impressive: Prakash Goyal
Hyderabad: Director General of Forests Chandra Prakash Goyal says Telangana’s afforestation programmes are impressive. Speaking to ‘Telangana Today‘ on the sidelines of a national workshop on Effective Implementation and Monitoring of Forestry Activities with Special Emphasis on Campa, Chandra Prakash Goyal said other States can take a cue from the programmes implemented in Telangana. Afforestation […]
Hyderabad: Director General of Forests Chandra Prakash Goyal says Telangana’s afforestation programmes are impressive. Speaking to ‘Telangana Today‘ on the sidelines of a national workshop on Effective Implementation and Monitoring of Forestry Activities with Special Emphasis on Campa, Chandra Prakash Goyal said other States can take a cue from the programmes implemented in Telangana.
Afforestation programmes
Telangana’s Haritha Haram programme, Green Fund and Green Budget initiatives are a game-changer. The best thing is people’s participation in Haritha Haram. We have been discussing these initiatives and takeaways during the workshop so that they could be implemented in other States. All the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests are participating in the workshop and will bring to the notice about these programmes to their respective State governments. Will also take up Industries Minister KT Rama Rao’s request for net-zero rankings with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC).
Forestlands survey and disputes
Forest and Revenue Departments are two custodians of the land. There are disputes when Revenue and Forest Department lands have common boundaries. To address these issues, we’ll reconcile the forest maps with the Revenue Department maps.
The data will be linked to the Parivesh portal, which accepts applications for environment and forest clearances for a project. We have a mandate from the MOEFCC to complete the reconciliation exercise in six months. Already, a few States, including Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and to a large extent Karnataka have completed this exercise. The Central government will bear the expenditure for this exercise, but if required, we will speak to the State governments as they own the forest lands.
Roads and underpasses
Conservation is important but one cannot ignore development. There has to be a balance and synchronization between conservation and development. Wildlife mitigation depends on case to case and based on feasibility, underpass or tunnels are proposed. Based on the WII’s recommendations, clearances are accorded in concurrence with National Board of Wildlife approvals and the best model is permitted.
An elevated road is being proposed to cover a portion of the Ganeshpur to Dehradun project and the Shivalik landscape and Rajaji landscape will be practically merged. This will be a win-win situation as vehicular traffic will not be halted and wild animals can move freely beneath the elevated road. Before approving a project, including laying a road, railway line etc the best model will be explored considering WII’s recommendations. These models, including roads, underpasses, elevated roads etc vary from site to site and feasibility at ground level, besides being cost-effective.
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