JOIN USThe Legislative Assembly on Friday passed two bills aimed at improving infrastructure.
The Karnataka Preservation of Trees (Amendment) Bill, 2014, enables axing up to 50 trees without issuing public notice.
According to forest department officials, below 50 trees, civic agencies or those executing the infrastructure project, need not issue public notice and go ahead with only a sanction from jurisdictional tree officer.
Department officials said the amendments were part of High Court directions to ensure transparency in felling of trees while undertaking public projects in State.
The House also passed an amendment to exempt 16 more species from Tree Preservation Act. The government had already exempted 11 species. Incidentally, exempted species from Tree Preservation Act will also help in exempting land spaces from Deemed Forest lists.
The exempted species include arecanut, coffee, guava, hebbevu, lemon, mango, sapota, seemegala, Burma bamboo, yellow bamboo, acacia mangium, acacia hybrid, cashew.
Officials said these exempted species will only extend to private titled land, and not inside the forest and leased out land of government.
The treasury benches got the Second Amendment to Karnataka Stamp Act of 1957, in the House.
The amendment shall give powers to State to either reduce or remit stamp duty for new and existing micro, small, medium, enterprises (MSME), large, mega, ultra mega, super mega enterprises including expansion, modernisation and diversification projects as defined in the policy.
Stamp duty
The government has listed cases in which it can reduce stamp duty. These include obtaining or repaying loan for agriculture purpose, allotment of developed lands to farmers, for pursuing education, acquiring and installing water harvesting units and non-conventional energy devices such as solar and biogas energies.