I am not an enemy of Orissa: Jairam Ramesh

“I am not an enemy of Orissa. I am as much an Oriya in heart as anybody in the state. Every morning I start my day after listening to the recital of Geet Gobind by noted Oriya vocalist Raghunath Panigrahi,” asserted Union minister for Environment and Forest, Jairam Ramesh, while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the North East Biodiversity gallery at Regional Museum of Natural History, here today.

Making an effort to remove his anti-Orissa tag, particularly in the backdrop of environment hurdles faced by some big ticket investments in the state such as those by Posco and Vedanta, Ramesh said, “the number of times I have said yes (to industrial projects in Orissa) far exceeds the number of times I have said no, but unfortunately my media friends have focused only on 'no's.”

In a light hearted banter, he added, “When I arrived in Bhubaneswar today, many journalists asked me about Posco. But I told them, there is life beyond Posco and there is more to Orissa than Posco.”

He later said, Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) will set up a first-of-its-kind bio-cultural park in Bhubaneswar, spread over 10 acres land, within next three years. The park will be planted with all varieties of flowers, used by tribals and people of various religious faith and cultural traditions in the country.

He said, the Center is keen to conserve the bio-diversity of the state. “MoEF will take appropriate steps to protect important biodiversity of Orissa including Olive Ridley turtles and wet lands. The ministry is keen to develop the biodiversity hotpots and different ecosystem of the land”.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Naveen Pattnaik said the state government is committed to conservation of forests and wildlife. He said, the conservation of natural resources is meant to strengthen the economically backward population of the country as well as the state.