“Out of the nine crores, the Centre has released Rs two crore for the bamboo project in Karnataka,” said Union Minister of State, Forest and Wild life, S Regupathy at the inauguration of the bamboo workshop and exhibition in Bangalore on Saturday.

NBM is an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture to promote bamboo plantation in the country on commercial basis covering an area of around 1.7 lakh hectare in a period of five years.  The total project cost for five years (2007-11) in the State is Rs 132 crore and aims to cover around 12 lakh hectare,” he added.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest has now lowered its target of achieving forest and tree cover from 33 per cent of the geographical area to 25 per cent by 2012, according to Union Minister of State, Forest and Wildlife S Regupathy. In Karnataka the forest and tree cover is estimated to be 21 per cent of the geographical area.