Govt school children to have free forest safari: Minister R Shankar
Bengaluru, June 28: Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister R Shankar said that the government is planning to introduce a programme to take students of the government schools and colleges for free safari into the forest to educate and inculcate curiosity among them on forest and wildlife.
Inaugurating a programme organized to present national and state environmental awards by the Yuva Chetana Yuvajana Kendra and Kadina Mitra magazine at the Cubbon Park here on Thursday, the Minister said that the Forest department has already introduced ‘One sapling for a child- Park for a school’ programme. In the same way, he was discussing with the Forest department officials on free safari to students of schools and colleges to create awareness among them on the forest and its importance. The government, non-governmental organizations, schools and colleges have been toiling hard to protect the forest and conserve the nature. If the pollution was more, it would have negative impact on the life. So, it should be the responsibility of every individual to protect the forest, he said.
In recent days, the incidents of wild animals damaging crops were increasing and farmers were incurring heavy loss. He would discuss with the Chief Minister on compensating the crop loss to the farmers, he said.
Bhadra Tiger Project director HC Kantharaju said that in the world, India has more number of tigers and in the state, there were more than 600 tigers. Because of the conservation of tigers, herbivorous animals would be balanced in the nature. For this reason, priority was given to conserve tigers, he said.
Environmental activist Nandidurga Balu Gowda was present on the occasion.
More funds in budget
Minister R Shankar said that he would discuss with Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to reserve more funds for his department in the 2018-19 Budget.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
