Indore
Indian Institute of Technology Indore, which had promised to it would develop a nursery on two hectares of land on its campus at the time of clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest, has finally agreed to keep the promise.
However, the institute said that it would seek funds for constructing the nursery from the central government.
IIT Indore, which had come into being in 2009, did not get possession of 502 acres of land proposed for its campus in Simrol until 2011.
The reason was that 88 hectares of land proposed for its campus was forest land. The Ministry of Environment and Forest had given clearance to make 88 hectares of forest land part of its campus in 2011 after imposing several conditions.
One of the conditions was that IIT Indore would plant two trees against every tree cut from the forest land. And that it would develop a nursery on two hectares of land. Besides, there were some other conditions as well.
IIT Indore did not develop the nursery saying that it did not cut any of the trees for building its infrastructure.
However, the forest department told IIT Indore officials that the nursery condition was not connected with the cutting of trees. It was a separate condition.
“After several rounds of talks with the forest department, IIT Indore has finally agreed to develop nursery on the campus,” forest officials said.
They stated that it may cost about Rs 75 lakh to the institute to develop the nursery.
8000 plants to be grown
Eight thousand saplings of rare species will be grown in the proposed nursery. This work will come under the supervision of the forest department. There will be a beat guard office and rest house in the nursery. The saplings grown in the nursery will be planted in the IIT campus and the surrounding forest area.
Work to start soon
IIT has agreed to set up a nursery on the campus. The institute has written a letter to us informing us about its intention to start work on nursery soon. The entire cost is to be borne by the institute, said AK Shrivastava, SDO, Indore Forest Division
Letter sent to Central govt
Sunil Kumar, PRO, IIT Indore said a letter has been written to the central government for its expenditure on the proposed nursery on IIT Indore campus as the institute does not have a budget for the nursery yet. The central and state governments are coordinating over the budget issue. The amount may be allotted soon.
