Javadekar warns against encroachment of river beds

As cloudburst and heavy rains hit Uttarakhand, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar today warned against encroachment of river beds.
"We need to preserve rivers and we shouldn't encroach river beds. That is the minimum, otherwise we get more losses. We have to preserve the Himalayas. It is a baby mountain. We have to take care," Javadekar told reporters here on the sidelines of a function of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
Stating that cloudburst in the Himalayan region was not a rare phenomenon, he said climate change has increased the frequency of such disasters.

"And therefore, the Modi government has for the first time alloted Rs 100 crore to carry out studies on various aspects of the Himalayan ecology. We have already started working on 27 projects on all such disaster resilience and predictions. With knowledge we can mitigate the challenge," he said.
Asked about the issue of wild animals being killed in road and rail accidents, he said the problem would be taken care of.
"In Assam we have been able to reduce it to a large extent and in West Bengal also the issue is being studied and whatever remedies needs to be done, will be done," the Union Minister said.

Javadekar said the Ministry would ensure free movement of vehicular traffic while avoiding accidents with animals.

In the sea beach of Digha in West Bengal, Javadekar said ZSI already has an aquarium, but they want a tunnel aquarium like that of Singapore.
"It is near the sea and can be a very big tourist attraction. I have told the state government to prepare a DPR (detailed project report). We will consider it," he said adding, there were plans to start two more regional centres of ZSI, which would be ready within the next two years.
The libraries of ZSI and Botanical Survey of India were now digitised, the Minister said.

Javadekar said he would talk to the Union HRD Minister to ensure that the database was available on the government's e-library project.