VILLUPURAM: Tamil Nadu’s forest cover is 20.26%, which is less than what the national forest policy prescribed (33.33%), Villupuram MP D Ravikumar said. The recent cyclones have uprooted several hundreds of trees in the state further depleting the green cover. Ravikumar urged the Centre to allot adequate funds to launch a massive tree plantation programme in the state to increase the forest cover.
The MP submitted a memorandum in this regard to the central team, which toured cyclone-hit regions in the state, including Villupuram district, to assess the damage caused by nature’s fury.
Villupuram district has one of the lowest forest cover with 11.86%. “Villupuram district is one of the disaster-prone districts of Tamil Nadu. I request the central team to recommend a special housing scheme to convert all the thatched huts and dilapidated PMAY houses into permanent concrete houses in the district,” he said. Ravikumar urged the Centre to declare the havoc wreaked by the cyclone as a national disaster and release Rs 2,000 crore as interim relief. He insisted the Centre review and enhance the quantum of relief in accordance with the current cost of living.
He said more than 12,000 hectares of crops were inundated. More than 2,500 hectares of crops were totally damaged in the district.