The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the State Forest Department are at loggerheads over plans to cut down trees so that the Bijapur-Gulbarga-Humnabad National Highway 218 can be widened.

Contradicting the NHAI’s claims that the loss of several trees will not adversely affect the environment, the State Forest Department said that cutting down the trees will have a disastrous impact on the flora and fauna of the region.

Study states that 20,000 MW can be generated by using a minimum 5 pc of wind-rich land

Wastelands in Karnataka can generate at least 50,000 MW of wind energy with turbines fitted at a height of 80 metres, according to a study by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP). The study report released on Wednesday also identified Haveri, Chikkaballapur, Hassan, Bijapur and Kolar districts, apart from Bellary, Chamarajnagar and Chitradurga, for having the potential for generation of wind energy.

With water level in Almatti dam in Bijapur district, hovering at 512.38 metres, as against the maximum of 519.6 metres, areas surrounding the dam are expected to face acute shortage of water for both irrigation and drinking purposes akin to Cauvery basin areas.

According to Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited officials, as against the impounding capacity of 123 tmc ft, the water at the dam was 43.323 tmc ft, with dead storage at 17.62 tms ft and outflow being 7,850 cusecs.

‘In Bijapur, yield has increased by 20 to 25 per cent in last two years’

The National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), a pilot project to help dryland farmers, has shown good results. It was taken up by the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, a constituent organisation of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), two years ago. The project, being implemented in three districts — Bijapur, Belgaum and Bangalore Rural — through the Regional Agricultural Research Stations (RARSs), has a multipronged approach to help dryland farmers get better yields with the available water.

A study by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) has revealed that there are increased prospects for agribusiness and corporates to enter the horticulture sector if contract farming is promoted in the State.

The study, carried out by Pramod Kumar, professor and head, Agriculture Development and Rural Transformation Centre, ISEC, assessed the impact of the National Horticultural Mission (NHM) in Karnataka.

District has outstripped state average in number of bio-fuel plants

Bijapur can be counted as one of the few districts in the country to have taken up the cultivation of bio-fuel plants in a big way. Some 64.7 lakh saplings of bio-fuel plants have been planted on large tracts of barren and gomala land and along farmland ridges in the district. The district hopes that the initiative will reduce its dependence on petroleum.

The State government would extend the solar street light project to all parts of the State in the coming days, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said here on Monday.

Mahesh, an exhibitor from Hubli, displays a solar lamp, at ‘Solarcon India 2012’ in the City on Monday. Speaking at the inauguration of Solarcon India 2012, a solar energy event, being held at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), the chief minister said a large number of solar street lights and signals have already been installed within Bangalore and a few other cities.

Nearly 35,000 trees will have to be felled to make way for widening of the 223-km long National Highway 218 that passes through Bijapur, Humnabad and Gulbarga, affecting the already thin forest cover in the region.

Bijapur, Gulbarga and Bidar have a negligible forest area of three per cent. In such a scenario felling of trees will have an adverse effect on the annual rainfall, temperature and flora and fauna in the three districts, say environmentalists.