The Telangana government has issued an order to constitute a committee to explore and study the ecotourism potential of the State’s forests and draw up an ecotourism policy.
To be chaired by the Minister for Forests and Environment, the committee will have as its members Special Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary of the Finance department; Principal Secretary, Environment, Forests, Science and Technology; Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force); PCCF (Wildlife); Secretary, Irrigation and CAD; vice-chairman and managing director, TS Forest Development Corporation (TSFDC); vice-chairman and MD, TS Tourism Development Corporation; Commissioner, Tribal Welfare; Commissioner, Endowments; a representative of the Confederation of Indian Industries; Director, Zoo Parks; a representative of World Wide Fund for Nature; and a representative of the Zoological Survey of India. Executive director, TSFDC-Ecotourism, will be the member-secretary.
The committee has scope for four more special invitees, from hospitality and adventure tourism industries, NGOs or forest officers from the State’s tiger reserves and the like.
