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To encourage the survival of saplings planted under the afforestation programmes, the Karnataka Government will extend incentives to those who grow them.
Launching the State-level ‘Laksha Vriksha Abhiyana’ (a movement to plant lakh trees), organised by the Karnataka Forest Department here on Saturday, State Minister for Forest and Environment B. Ramanatha Rai said the forest department would supply saplings to farmers and general public at Re 1, Rs 3 and Rs 5 per sapling.
To boost the survival rate of such saplings, the department would extend an incentive of Rs 10 a tree for the first year, Rs 15 a tree for the second year, and Rs 20 a tree for the third year to those farmers and public who grow them.
He urged the industries and non-governmental organisations to take active participation in afforestation programmes of the Government.
The minister said that the Forest Department would launch ‘Laksha Vriksha Abhiyana’ in every district in the state. Such a programme would help increase green cover in the state, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, D. V. Sadananda Gowda, former Karnataka Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council, said that ‘Laksha Vriksha Abhiyana’ should emerge as a public movement.
Expressing concerns over the recent cases of man-animal conflicts in different areas of the state in the recent past, he said such incidents happened because the forest cover is coming down.
Referring to the recent attacks of elephants on human inhabitations in various parts of the state, he said the Government should take steps to protect the elephant inhabitations. He suggested that the Forest Department formulate a plan to prevent such incidents in future.
T.S.N. Murthy, Deputy Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust, who received an award from the Department for the afforestation efforts of the port, said that the port has been planting saplings in its premises for the past several years. The port has a green cover of more than 33 per cent as against the mandatory requirement of 30 per cent, he said.
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