HYDERABAD: At the meeting of the Legislative Committee on Environment and Wildlife Conservation on Monday, the Telangana Assembly precincts were declared plastic-free. During the meeting convened at the Assembly, Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy announced that plastic materials will not be used in the Assembly precincts and items like plastic bottles will be replaced with those made from eco-friendly material, like glass.
In the meeting, which lasted for close to four hours was attended by senior officials from the forest and irrigation departments, as well as the State pollution control board. It was pointed out that despite good rains this year leading to many waterbodies getting filled to the brim, the condition of waterbodies in the Manjira river basin is distraught.
The Speaker highlighted the need for taking up various water-conservation measures through forestry in the Manjira river basin, by utilising CAMPA funds that were just released by the Central government to Telangana.
Man-animal conflict
The meeting also witnessed discussions on the issue of man-animal conflict in certain parts of the State due to monkeys and wild boar from forest areas venturing into human habitations and destroying agricultural fields. It was stressed that morefruit trees need to be grown in forests as part of forest regeneration under the Telangana ku Haritha Haram scheme to ensure that the monkeys stay inside the forests.
Although the forest regeneration measures are being taken up in sanctuaries, it was pointed out that measures need to be taken up to ensure there is a rise in number of wild animals in the sanctuaries. The need for ensuring higher survival rate of saplings planted as part of Haritha Haram was also stressed during the meeting.
The need for increasing the number of sewage as well as the industrial effluent treatment plants in the State was also stressed in the meeting.