Letter to Minister E&F re meeting in his chambers, Feb 19, 2008

        

Dr. Divyabhanusinh Chavda M.Sc. (Econ) D. Litt
"Suryodaya"
310 Gom Defence Colony
Vaishali Marg
Jaipur - 302021


Shri. S. Raghupathy,

Hon’ble Minister of State

Ministry of Environment and Forests

Paryavaran Bhavan,

CGO Complex, Lodi Road

New Delhi – 110003

Sub: Meeting of the Non-official members of the National Board for Wildlife with the Hon’ble Minister in his chamber on 19^th February 2008

Dear Sir,

At the outset we would like to thank you for meeting us to address some of the issues raised in our letter to the Hon’ble Prime Minister.

We are delighted to learn that the sub-committee consisting of Mr. Mahendra Vyas and Mr. Valmik Thapar is still in existence. There is some confusion regarding this sub-committee. Its meeting should be called at the earliest with the purpose inter alia of examining the adverse impact of the Forest Rights Act on the fauna and flora of India.

We appreciate your decision to form sub-committees of independent members of NBWL Standing Committee specifically to look into matters of conservation such as marine protected areas, tigers etc. There are only three independent members in the NBWL. This objective can be easily met by co-opting special invitees to attend the Standing Committee meetings and making them part of such sub committees as present three members are not enough and in any case a wider number shall ensure greater specialist knowledge being available.

We expressed our concern regarding the deaths of ghariyals, poaching of rhino and the ongoing tiger crisis. We expressed our concern voiced earlier at the previous meeting of the Standing Committee as well as the last meeting of NBWL that only matters of doling out protected areas lands for various purposes come before the Standing Committee. Matters concerned directly with conservation did not come up either at all or rarely. We appreciate your understanding of our apprehensions and we hope that the Ministry will ensure that an overview of the various developments/ crises are surveyed at the next Standing Committee meeting as also, we are informed of what the relevant authorities are doing to counter the various threats. The main concern of NBWL being the protection of our endangered fauna and flora, it is only proper and necessary that these issues are a part of our deliberations and advise.

We have no doubt that your personal interest in the matters mentioned here will redress the situation.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Signed on behalf of

Dr. Bibhab Kumar Talukdar

Dr. Asad Rahmani/ BNHS and for self

Dr. Divyabhanusingh Chavda

CC:              DGF & SS

            IGF WL

            Dy. IG WL