Budget blinks on going green

CHENNAI: With all the zealous talk about the need to protect ecology and conserve wildlife and forest resources by ministers, you might have thought the government had indeed taken the issue of environment protection seriously. However, the plan allocation for the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in the Union Budget sends out an entirely different message.According to the budget documents posted on the government’s website, the ministry, which is now at the centre of focus, thanks to issues such as indiscriminate mining, has received a paltry `130 crore increase in allocation to the `2,300 crore allotted last year – a meagre 5.6 per cent hike.The documents reveal that aspects such as afforestation, eco-development and wildlife preservation have been provided with funds amounting to `906.68 crore. Important projects of the Ministry, including the National Afforestation Programme and Green India Mission, come under these heads. On the wildlife front, the two important programmes – Project Tiger and Project Elephant – have received `151.70 crore and `19.58 crore respectively.  Fund allocation for certain schemes have been completely cut down while certain new components have been introduced in several programmes. For example, while the National Lake Conservation Plan was given `50 crore in the last budget, there is no allocation this time.