Hyderabad, November 15: The Minister for Higher Education, Mr D Sridhar Babu on Monday informed that the State Government was planning to make planting of trees mandatory for the students of universities and its affiliated colleges in the State.
Launching he tree pantation programme under “Nava Vana Udyamam” at JNTU Campus, Kukatpally here, Mr Sridhar Babu said that the Government was having an idea to mandate the students to plant five or six trees each during their course duration. The modalities are yet to be formulated in this regard, he added.
Referring to the threat of climate change to the country, the Minister said that the state government was taking all the necessary measures to control the levels of pollution. The policy makers had the responsibility to ensure a balance between the natural resources and requirements of the society. The utilization of natural resources should not impact the environment, he added. He reminded that the State Government has setup Vana samrakshana Samithis for protection of plants and tress in the state.
Responding to the demand of the students for release of scholarships, the Minister advised them to keep in mind the steps taken by the government for the welfare of the students while making demands and staging protests. He reminded that online system, in which the scholarship amount would be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the students, has been introduced in the state. He also assured them that the state government would take care to fulfill the requirements of the JNTU, Hyderabad.
The Minister for Forests and Environment, Mr Peddireddy Ramachnadra Reddy said that tree plantation was being taken up in a big way as a campaign to ensure biomass production and for environmental preservation. In the State, 23.2 percent of area (63.81 lakh hectors) was covered by notified forests. Thus, totally, about 26.52 percent of the area was under forest or tree cover in the state, which was six percent less than the 33 percent forest coverage targeted in the National Forest Policy, he added. He exuded confidence that the state would achieve more than 33 percent area, if the people cooperated with the Government.
“Efforts are already under way for taking up raising of large number of decentralized village nurseries under MGNREGS all over the state for producing good quality plant material for the next year’s planting season”, he stated.
The Minister informed that about 17,000 seedlings per Gram Panchayat per year would be raised for the next three years. In addition to this, 3,000 Mahatma Gandhi Vana Nurseries are being established in the state and the nurseries would be located in a central place for a cluster of five to six Gram Panchyatas. Each year, about 30 crore seedlings were expected to be raised for the next three years, he maintained.
The Vice Chancellor of JNTU, Hyderabad, Prof D N Reddy informed that they have decided to develop green belt in 10 percent area of total university area of 85 acres. “Today, we have taken up tree plantation in one acre of area”, he added. He requested the Government to allocate additional 100 acres of land to JNTU.
The Kukatpally MLA, Dr Jayaprakash Narayana said that students should strive to find solution to the issues with their technical skills. Both commitment and utilization of high technology were
required for protection of environment, he opined.
An exhibition on plantation and environment was also conducted at the venue of the programme. The students of the JNTU and several schools participated in the tree plantation programme.
——–NSS