Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Budget on Friday included a few key announcements for promoting environment-friendly measures and sustainable development in the state.
Finance Minister KN Balagopal said that the government planned to make the state carbon-neutral by 2050.
The state will present an enviroment budget to outline the expenditure on environment-related issues from 2023-24.
Solar push carts for street vendors, the Finance Minister said.
In a move to promote alternative energy, the state is planning to run 50 per cent of its ferry boats on solar energy. Rs 2 crore has been kept aside to study extraction of ethanol from tapioca. Rs 50 crore will be granted to KSRTC for CNG buses.
The FM also allocated Rs10 crore to rid water bodies of plastic waste.
In view of the recent rise in cases of man-animal conflict in the state, the government has kept aside Rs 25 crore to prevent attacks by wild animals.
Rs 100 crore was set aside for preventing soil erosion and protection of Kerala's coasts. Rs 5.5 crore was allotted for sea conservation.
While Rs 140 crore was allocated for damage caused by floods in state, the FM kept aside Rs 5 crore to implement flood control measures at Pampa-Thottappally.
Kuttanad was allotted Rs140 crore following the impact of Manorama News series "Kuttanadinoppam".
