HYDERABAD: Just as how states are ranked on ‘Ease of Doing Business’, on a national level, ‘Green Ranking’ of states must also begin, suggested IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao while addressing a national-level workshop to train forest officers on ‘Effective implementation and monitoring of forestry activities with special emphasis on CAMPA’ in Hyderabad on Friday.
“If we could rank states on Ease of Doing Business, and make them compete, why can’t we introduce a program where states compete for COP’s Net Zero goals? Why can’t we compete in achieving Net Zero by 2070, as PM Modi has called for,” KT Rama Rao said to senior Central government forest officers who were present at the event.
He also appealed to the forest department to not work in isolation and collaborate with industries and MA&UD departments and make strong policies to achieve COP goals.
“Telangana has ranked first or second in ‘Ease of Doing Business' ranking and also first in increasing green cover, which shows the two can go together,” said Rao, adding that the forest ministry should be pragmatic and practical in its approach and provide permissions for flyovers and other projects as they reduce carbon emissions and not just think about the 200-300 odd trees lost.
“Cities need more support from the forest department in terms of legislation, acts, and practicality in terms of growth-oriented planning,” added KT Rama Rao.
The Minister for Forest Indrakaran Reddy also highlighted Telangana’s efforts in improving green cover by planting nearly 130 crore saplings and improving the green cover from 24% to 31.7%. The 2-day national workshop will include field visits by the various forest officers to Telangana’s success stories in various forestry activities.