New tree park honoring Salumarada Thimmakka to be built in North Bengaluru: Eshwar Khandre
Bengaluru: Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment Eshwar Khandre stated that a stone laying ceremony would soon be held for 'Salumarada Thimmakka Sasyodyana' in the model of Cubbon Park at the 153-acre forest land in Madappanahalli near Yelahanka RTO office. This would aid in remedying the lack of 'lung space' in the northern part of Bengaluru city, he said. He was addressing the valedictory ceremony of 'Wildlife week' at Aranya Bhavana in Bengaluru on Monday.
"The 153-acre forest land had been leased to the State Forest Development Corporation. As the contract period is over now, the forest department will develop a Cubbon Park style tree park, with the aid of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund. Bengaluru has grown far and wide around Yelahanka. So if we build the Salumarada Thimmakka Tree Park here to benefit people, this will be a top level attraction", he said.
Citing a recent Indian Forest Survey report, Khandre said that Bengaluru, the third largest city in India, had about 89 sq. km of forest which amounted to 6.81% tree cover. However, around 5 sq. km of tree cover was lost in the last ten years, he said.
"The fast growing Bengaluru city needs to reclaim its legacy of being a 'garden city'. The department must collaborate with the public to conduct more and more tree planting events. Along with this, we need to recover the encroached forest land in the capital city", Khandre stated.
Referring to how people throng zoos and jungle safaris to be enchanted by the wildlife in weekends, the Minister for Ecology said that all of us had the responsibility to protect and conserve these wonderful creatures which made us happy. This was why the department conducted a wildlife week from October 2 to 8 of every year, he said.
School children who won various competitions held during the Wildlife Week were awarded prizes during the occasion. A wild life photography and postal stamps exhibition was also held at the event.
Forest Department Additional Chief Secretary Manjunath Prasad, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Task Force Brijesh Kumar Dixit, Chief Wildlife Warden Subhash Malkhede and others were present.
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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar takes oath as Rajya Sabha member
New Delhi (PTI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday took oath as a member of Rajya Sabha, marking the end of his two-decade rule in the eastern state and paving the way for a new chief minister.
The oath was administered by Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan in his chamber at a brief ceremony. The Chairman later welcomed him as a member of the Upper House and also on his return in Parliament.
Kumar took the oath in Hindi in the presence of Union Minister J P Nadda, who is also leader of the house, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ram Nath Thakur and Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary was also present at the oath-taking.
JDU leader and party's working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, besides BJP MP and former union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha Sanjay Jaiswal, were among those present during the oath-taking.
"Vice President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, administered the oath to Shri Nitish Kumar as an elected Member of Rajya Sabha, from Bihar, at Parliament House today," the Vice President's office said on X, while sharing pictures of the oath-taking.
After the oath-taking, Kumar came out of the new Parliament building and spoke about the time he was a member of the Lok Sabha and sat in the old Parliament building.
As Kumar assumes the Rajya Sabha role, it marks the end of his long two-decade rule in Bihar. Kumar will soon resign as chief minister and the NDA is likely to elect a new chief minister of Bihar on April 14.
He has already resigned as a member of the State Legislative Council on March 30 after he was elected to Rajya Sabha.
The JD(U) supremo was elected to the Upper House of Parliament on March 16, and he had to quit as an MLC in the 14-day period after his election.
