April 30, 2011
India

State rejects KPCL’s proposal on wind farm

Special Correspondent, The Hindu, www.hindu.com 30 April 2011Special Correspondent, The Hindu, www.hindu.com 30 April 2011

Bangalore: The State Government has rejected the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited’s proposal seeking permission to install a wind farm at the bio-sensitive area in Kapatgal in Chitradurga district.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, Minister for Forest and Environment C.H. Vijayashankar said the department had declared and notified Kapatgal hilly region and its surrounding forest area as “medicinal forest area” and barred industrial activities.

Stating that the department was planning to declare several other regions as “bio-sensitive”, the Minister said: “We cannot afford to inflict more damage to biologically sensitive ecosystem.”

He said that his department would take steps to curb illegal mining and its exploitation in the State after hearing the apex court which had received the Central Empowered Committee report on the issue.

A two-day workshop would be held from May 2 in the city to address the issue of scarcity of raw materials being faced by the manufacturing companies of ayurveda and vanaspathi in the State.

Many ayurveda and vanaspathi manufacturing firms have been facing shortage of raw material and were sourcing their requirements from northern States, including Chhattisgarh and Uttarkhand, and Nepal.

The department officials would assist farmers and industrialists to come to understanding to meet their requirements of raw materials and also help to sign MoU between them, he said.

He said an action plan would be prepared by the Ministry based on the recommendations at the workshop. The department will host another workshop to promote afforestation programme along farm land in the state.

He said that expert from the field, including vice-chancellors from both agriculture and horticulture universities would attend the one-day programme.

The workshop would help to understand the needs of the farmers, demand for saplings and technical know-how.

The programme would also help to formulate guidelines for the successful implementation of the afforestation programme, he said.

A sum of Rs. 19 crore had been earmarked to implement the programme during 2011-12, he said.