Bengaluru: Karnataka industries minister MB Patil said on Friday that Bengaluru has immense potential to develop urban forests in and around the city.Speaking at an event at the KIADB Aerospace Park-2 near Devanahalli, he said the city’s famous tag of ‘Garden City’ was affected by rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. “We must strike a balance between the three areas crucial for our survival, namely agriculture, industry, and food,” he said, launching the campaign to plant one lakh saplings.Patil recalled how his native district of Vijayapura went from having about 0.2% forest cover a decade ago to 2% at present. “Through sustained efforts, we have planted over 1.5 crore saplings. Following this, the forest department set an ambitious goal of planting five crore saplings every year. Delegations from other states and countries have visited to study this initiative,” he said.
