Central control out, subjective aspects in: why new wetlands Rules are different


On Wednesday, the Supreme Court expressed grave concern over the disappearance of the country’s wetlands: “If there are no wetlands left, it will affect agriculture and several other things. It is a very, very important issue,” the Bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur said.

The court had earlier observed that even after Rs 900 crore was spent on works related to wetlands, the activities shown were extremely general in nature. It asked the Centre to provide a status report on funds disbursed to states, and the manner of their utilisation.

The government informed the court that the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, had been notified to replace the earlier set of guidelines that came into effect in 2010. Counsel for the petitioner objected to some of the provisions in the 2017 Rules, and was asked by the Bench to file an application.

The court said that 2,01,503 wetlands in the country would continue to be protected by the government. These wetlands had been identified using ISRO’s satellite imagery,Read more

 

Source web page: New Indian Expresss


Comments (0)



Please Login or Register to join groups