The country recorded a decrease of 367 square km in forest cover last year, compared with 2009, according to India State of Forest Report 2011, released here on Tuesday.

The forest and tree cover of the country stands at 78.29 million hectare, which is 23.81 per cent of the country's geographical area, said the report. “Compared with the 2009 assessment, after taking into account the interpretational changes, there is a decrease of 367 square km in the country's forest cover,” the report said.

State BJP chief spokesperson Vijesh Lunawat said that the State budget preparations are an ambitious attempt for the development of the agricultural resources which will create a new attraction amongst the farmers. The format of the State budget expresses the concerns regarding the provision of water at dry land, provide quality electricity facilities, increase the commercial industries for farmers and growth in plan expenditure for planned development.

As a step taken towards improving the power related problems in Madhya Pradesh, the State Government paid special attention to better maintenance of power plants, distribution, power transmission, power management among others besides prioritising increase in power generation capacity during the last years. Several important achievements have been registered in the power sector between the year 2002-03 and 2010-11. During the period, the power generation capacity has increased by more than two-fold to 6,152 megawatts from 2,990 megawatts.

In an effort to boost tourism, Madhya Pradesh will convert seven government-owned forts and around 20 private heritage properties into hotels. The Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Department Corporation (MPSTDC) will invite private parties to invest in tourism infrastructure. At the first ever tourism conclave organised by MP Tourism and FICCI in Khajuraho last week, government and private stakeholders converged to discuss ways to attract tourists to the state.

While the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) has now been repopulated with translocated tigers and tigresses, the promised CBI probe into the disappearance of the entire population before 2009 is yet to be ordered even after the PMO’s intervention. Despite repeated reminders over the last five months, PTR’s field director R Sreenivasa Murthy has not sent evidence about three specific cases of poaching identified for a CBI probe to the headquarters in Bhopal.

Indore: Even after getting a whopping Rs 18 lakh for the medicinal plantation under the compensatory afforestation project, the proceedings for the work has been stuck due to the budget yet to be released by the state government. Compensatory afforestation, in a laymans language is a process to assuage the wear and tear caused to the forest land due to a commercial project. In 2009, a project named 220 KV Maheswar- Pithampur- Rajgarh DCDS transmission line kicked off in December 2009.

Madhya Pradesh stands fourth in the country in the implementation of MNREGA. So far, Rs. 17,730 cr have been spent on basic development works and village uplift in the state under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. More than 9.78 lakh works have been undertaken and employment worth 132 crore mandays provided to rural labourers.

Narmada Bachao Andolan ( NBA) has demanded CBI inquiry into the purchase of power from Maheshwar Hydro- electric project, which is now Rs 10 per unit and it has become unviable. If Madhya Pradesh does not withdraw, NBA will knock the doors of a court. NBAs Alok Agrawal said, " As per Tariff Order of the MPERC for the year 2011- 2012, the cost of power in MP is Rs. 2.44 per unit. Cost of power from the two upcoming private power projects in Madhya Pradesh - Essar Power and Torrent- is Rs. 2.45 per unit and Rs. 3.31 per unit respectively.