By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in the country to constitute committees up to Panchayat level in the sphere of biodiversity.
Under the Biodiversity Act, 23,741 bio-management committees have been established. At their own level these committees would also collect information about bio resources including plants and trees, crops and fauna apart from herbs found in their respective areas.
The work of constituting these committees in all the 48 districts has been completed as per Madhya Pradesh Biodiversity Rule-2004 notified by the state government.
Under it, the process of constituting these committees in 48 District Panchayats, 313 Janpad Panchayats, 14 Municipal Corporations, 86 Municipalities, 237 Nagar Panchayats and 230,43 Gram Panchayats have been completed.
For carrying out activities related to biodiversity, funds have been provided to committees of every level as contribution to Biodiversity Fund. Under it, Rs. 25,000/- to District Panchayat, Rs. 15,000/- each to Janpad and Municipal Corporation, Rs. 10,000/- to Nagar Palika Parishads and Rs. 5,000/- to Nagar Panchayats have been given as grant.
Instructions have been issued to committees of all the districts to organise workshops, conferences, seminars etc. in the first phase.
Similarly, these committees would also collect information about bio resources like different species of plants, trees, fauna etc. apart from herbs and medicinal plants.
At the state level, the state government has constituted Biodiversity Board. ([email protected])