Acquire 2,709 acres for alternative forests: Harish, Tummala

To increase green cover to 33 per cent from existing 26 per cent the State Government today taken a key decision to acquire 2709 acres of land on a war-footing. The land will be acquired by district collectors for the expansion of the green cover to reach its target.

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao and Roads & Buildings Minister Tummala Nageshwar Rao today held a crucial meeting at Secretariat with officials concerned. They directed the officials concerned and the district collectors to plunge immediate action to acquire the land for alternative forest expansion besides discussing on the forest department permission.

The Ministers also discussed the problems of forest clearance for acquiring the land and also taken a decision to go ahead for land acquisition. They directed the collectors to speed up the related works of the land acquisition and address the problems there off. Besides setting up a land bank, the collectors were asked to focus on completing the local projects like Sitharama project in Khammam, Rollavagu, Palema Vagu medium projects, Alimineti Madhava Reddy project, Devadula, Kalwakurty and other ongoing projects. (NSS)