Karnataka budget: Rs 96 crore for 42 air pollution monitoring stations

Taking into account the increasing air pollution in the cities, the state government has made a special budget allocation Rs 96 crore for setting up 42 continuous air pollution monitoring stations across the state.

A senior Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) official said that the Board has already started work on creating 29 in Karnataka of which five continuous monitoring stations have already been installed in Bengaluru.

"But this the Board is doing with KSPCB funding alone. We are yet to get details of the District Mineral Funds from the state government," the official said.

Forest Ex-gratia

To ensure that there is limited man-animal conflict, the state government has enhanced the ex-gratia amount for victims from Rs 50,000 to Rs five lakh in case of permanent disability and in case of partial disability the amount has been enhanced from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh.

"We had also asked for a special stipend for those who are injured and family of the deceased. But this has not been included in the budget. There has been no special allocation made for Project Tiger or Project Elephant. The government has merely mentioned that 1,42,500 hectares of forest area has been added to the protected area. But funding for them has found no place in the budget," a forest department official said.

However, the budget allocation to the state forest department has been increased from Rs 1700 crore to Rs 1914 crore, the official added. He added that the government has laid emphasis upon increasing the tree cover. But mere mention will no help, there is a need for supporting the cause also.