With the climate change affecting the State in a massive way, the State Government plans to implement an Odisha Climate Change Action Plan (OCCAP).
Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra chairing a meeting of the Monitoring & Advisory Committee on OCCAP at the State Secretariat on Wednesday urged all the departments to prioritise the OCCAP and undertake activities with commitments since these activities are very crucial for future growth and survival.
Development Commissioner Injeti Srinivas, ACS Finance, UN Behera, ACS Revenue & Disaster Management Taradatt along with Secretaries of other departments and senior officers of implementing agencies participated in the discussions. Principal Secretary Forest & Environment Raj Kumar Sharma outlined the OCCAP.
The Chief Secretary said action for mitigation of pollution largely lies in massive plantation and increasing the canopy density of degraded forests which would mitigate a large load of carbon on the environment. He directed the Forest & Environment Department to scale up plantation activities and intensify the raising of nurseries at the block and district levels.
The Forest Department was also asked to increase density of tree converge in 20,000 sqkm of forests. Presently, around `1,700 crore is available for plantation under different schemes. The Chief Secretary said more funds, if required, would be made available.
The Chief Secretary advised Energy Secretary PK Jena to create a common pool of funds for incentivising solar power project initiatives and scaling up the use of energy-saving devices. Presently, about `20 crore is available for promotion of solar projects. The Chief Secretary advised to hike it up to `50 crore.
The OREDA and the OMFED were directed to work out specific target-oriented action plans for promoting improved Chullah and biogas plants. The Chief Secretary told Secretary, Fisheries and Animal Resource Development Bishnupada Sethi to initiate and monitor this activity.
Principal Secretary, Water Resources Suresh Chandra Mohapatra was advised to promote regulated irrigation measures in the areas under major and medium irrigation projects. It was decided that incentives would be provided to private houses for having roof top solar project and rainwater harvesting system.
The Chief Secretary advised the BDA, the DoWR and the OREDA to empanel service-providing agencies which people can contact easily for facilitation of these types of projects in their private houses.