MoEF to work on long term plan for Sunderbans

The Union ministry of environment and forests will prepare measures to protect, Sunderbans, the largest mangrove block in the world. Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for environment and forests, said that short-term and long-term measures for protecting the ecology of Sunderbans would have to be taken. He visited Sunderbans along with members of the National Disaster Management Authority and National Tiger Conservation Authority to study the impact of the cyclonic storm, Aila.

Ramesh said that West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi had a meeting on the issue. “Mangroves must be protected,” said the minister. Ramesh recently asked the Maharashtra government to relocate the new international airport being planned, as the site included 150 hectares of mangrove land. However, the state government has informed that it would not be possible to relocate. Ramesh said, “I have still asked them to relocate if possible.” On the proposed PCPIR in West Bengal, he said that stringent norms would have to be followed.