The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Inter-State machinery needed to protect forest wealth: Thakur

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Friday, Sep 21, 2007
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Inter-State machinery needed to protect forest wealth: Thakur

Special Correspondent

‘Southern States should make concerted efforts in this regard’

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

bonhomie: Minister for Forests, C. Chennigappa (left), with Tamil Nadu Minister for Forests, N. Selvaraj (second from left), Goa Minister for Forests, Fillipe Neri Rodrigues (second from right), and Andhra Pradesh Minister for Forests, Satrucharla Vijaya Ramaraju, at the conference of Forest Ministers of southern States in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore: Governor Rameshwar Thakur has said that all the departments, including the police, in the southern States should be involved in establishing an effective coordinating machinery for checking the loot of forest wealth and trade in wild animals.

Mr. Thakur was speaking after inaugurating a two-day conference of Forest Ministers of southern States here on Thursday.

Stating that the efforts of people who had preserved and protected the forest wealth for thousands of years should not be allowed to go waste, Mr. Thakur suggested that the States should immediately make concerted efforts to arrest all kinds of illegal activity.

Coordination

Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology, C. Chennigappa, said that protecting the flora and fauna in the forests would be difficult without well defined and effective coordination among the States concerned.

A conference of this nature should provide a permanent forum for regular interaction among all States in conceiving and enforcing effective forest protection management strategies, he said.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Forests, N. Selvaraj, said that areas on the inter-State border were vulnerable to illegal activities.

The situation called for cooperation and coordination among the States concerned. The common problems were encroachments, ganja cultivation and smuggling of timber and forest wealth.

A coordination cell comprising officers of the rank of Conservator of Forests, representing the respective States and equipped with update communication equipment, should be established. The Tamil Nadu Government would propose the establishment of such coordination cell in Chennai, he added.

Andhra Pradesh Minister for Forests, Satrucharla Vijaya Ramaraju, and Goa Minister for Forests, Fillipe Neri Rodrigues, were present.

‘Bangalore ideal’

Mr. Chennigappa, said the State Government will urge the Centre to set up the proposed coordination cell for forest protection, in Bangalore.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the conference, the Minister said considering the geographical location and other advantages, like communication network and road accessibility, Bangalore would be an ideal place for the coordination cell.

Replying to questions on the directions of the Supreme Court and the Centre on evicting encroachers from the national park area in the vicinity of Chikmagalur, the Minister said the Government had written to the Centre that it could not ask the tribal people living there for over a century in the area to move and they could not be considered encroachers.

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