Dehradun, June 22: Stressing on the need to strike a balance between environment and development needs, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today said hydel projects were essential to meet the demand for energy and could not be done away with completely.
However, a number of hydel projects were stopped in Uttarakhand in view of the “public demand,” he said in a statement here.
By the year 2013, India will have an exclusive satellite meant for monitoring forest fire, he told a meeting at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) here. This satellite would also help in forest mapping.
The meeting was held for “national mission for green India” which was third in a series of six consultations.
The Mission is national programme of the Union Ministry for Environment and Forest, under which the forest cover has to be doubled to spread to 20 million hectares in the next 10 years.
–Agencies