“Mangroves, lakes, wetlands focus of strategy”

Environment Ministry wants to merge three natural resources to prevent duplication of funds

Union Ministry of Environment and Forests will formulate a new strategy for improving mangroves, lakes and wetlands, said Tishya Chatterjee, Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Dr. Chatterjee who visited both the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh parts of the Pulicat bird sanctuary on Wednesday, told The Hindu on Thursday that the Ministry wanted to merge the three natural resources, which received funds under different planned schemes. The merger will help in avoiding duplication of works, plans and funds to them, he said.

Talking about Pulicat, Dr. Chatterjee said the change in the strategy was aimed at helping the local community; the thrust would be on increasing fish catch by improving the condition of the lake. Constant salinity level in the lake is 35 particles per thousand. Fresh water incursion into the lake from the Andhra Pradesh side was very little, whereas it was adequate from the Tamil Nadu side. This issue would be addressed in the future management plans for the area, he said.

A new management programme for the lake would be prepared and it would be supported by stakeholders – two State Governments, all 65 gram sabhas in both the States and Sriharikotta Space Research Centre.

Five-year plan

The management action plan for Pulicat would be reviewed and implemented in a phased manner and it would be spread over a five year period, which would begin from November this year and end in October 2016. The Central Wetland Regulatory Authority would identify an organisation such as National Institute of Ocean Technology and the lake development project would be awarded to them.

All the Panchayati Raj institutions would be involved in the project right from the beginning.

It would take at least six months to prepare the plan for developing the lake, he said. A species diversity indexing of both flora and fauna in the area would be done with the help of experts such as P.J. Sanjeva Raj, who has done a detailed research on Pulicat Lake and its environment, Dr. Chatterjee added.