PUNE: A project to nominate the district's official animal, bird and plant to raise awareness about local biodiversity has been on hold for over nine months. The state wildlife board, which would have to make the recommendation, did not meet.
But there is fresh hope with Union minister of state for environment, forests and climate change Prakash Javadekar taking interest in it.
The project, an initiative of city-based non-governmental organization Biospheres, was launched last February when experts selected two nominees for 20 categories at a workshop. These included not only common categories like district mammal and district bird, but some uncommon nominees like district algae, district fossil and district mineral.
People were asked to vote for their nominees and the results of the poll were announced on World Environment Day on June 5, last year.
"The proposal has been pending with the state wildlife board, and since no meeting has been held since then, the project is in limbo," said Sachin Punekar, founder president of Biospheres.
The last meeting of the board was held on February 20, 2014," said Anuj Khare, a member of the state wildlife board.
Under normal circumstances, two meetings of the board are held each year, but the Lok Sabha election followed by the state assembly election last year may have resulted in the initial delay. However, experts wonder whether the body itself will be dissolved in the wake of the recommendations made by the Subramanian committee to review environmental laws.
If the recommendations made by the committee are accepted, the Union government will appoint a new National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). At the state level, the State Environment Management Authority (SEMA) will be responsible for project clearances and monitoring compliance with environmental clearance conditions.
This uncertainty has meant that the proposal from Biospheres, which is backed by the forest department as well as Pune Municipal Corporation's Indradhanushya Environment and Citizenship Centre, is on the backburner.
Punekar recently raised the issue with Javadekar. "It is an interesting project. I have asked for details," Javadekar told reporters recently. He added that it was possible to replicate this project in other districts as well.
