Telangana: Nalgonda power plant gets Javadekar’s support

Hyderabad: Union minister for environment and forests Prakash Javadekar promised support for the Telangana government’s attempts to set up a 4,000 MW thermal power plant at Nalgonda for which 10,709 acres of forest land has to be cleared.

Javadekar was at the KBR National Park for a morning walk on Saturday where he interacted with other walkers.

Speaking to the media, Javadekar said that all urban local bodies should take part in the greening mission.

He wanted ‘theme parks’ to be developed as lung spaces for cities. He also raised the issue of improper implementation of the plastic ban and said the country produces about 15,000 tonnes of plastic every year of which only 9,000 tonnes is managed.

Mr Javadekar gave the example of dead cows and buffalos being found with plastic bags in them, sometimes with as much as 30 kg, and said that plastic waste is an issue even in villages. He added the government will soon launch a programme for making India plastic bag free. He also took some suggestions from morning walkers on making cities green.

A Telangana forest department official, who was present at the park, said the forest department will soon start environment education centres in some forest blocks and protected areas in and around Hyderabad to improve environmental awareness among school kids and the public.