Telangana Forest and Environment Minister Jogu Ramanna on Monday informed that State Legislative Assembly that the State Government has decided to expand the existing percentage of forests and tree cover by encouraging massive plantation in the next three years under “Telanganaku Haritha Haram” concept.
In his reply to a query raised by MLA G Balaraju and others during Question Hour, the minister said that the forest area of the Telangana State is 29,242.08 Sq Kms with 25.45% of the total geographical area of 114896 sq kms. He said all the stakeholders of the society would be involved in the planting programme. An amount of Rs 300 crore is provided in the budget estimates of the year 2014-15. Apart from above an amount of Rs 371.70 crore would be utilised on availability of funds under MGNREGS, he said. (INN)