Huge botanical garden proposed near Bangalore

His announcement came after a suggestion in this regard by Director General of The Energy Research Institute (TERI) and Chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, R K Pachauri.

"As it happens, in this country, we have not set up botanical gardens, literally anywhere since the British left", Pachauri told a TERI-organised day-long seminar on "Sustainable Infrastructure Development in Karnataka: Key achievements and way forward".

It's important that urban-dwellers of Bangalore are exposed to what nature has gifted to mankind, Pachauri said, adding there are huge tracts of land near Hoskote, where the botanical garden could be located.

Meanwhile, TERI also plans to set up a campus of Delhi-based TERI University, which offers post-graduate courses focused on sustainable development, in Karnataka.

Yeddyurappa said he has also offered to TERI to conduct in Karnataka pilot programmes with regard to its "Lighting a billion lives" programme, a major renewable energy initiative for villages without electricity.

Under the programme, a woman in each village gets a solar panel on her house roof and is trained to charge solar lanterns, a LED-based lighting device.