A few wetlands in the country have reportedly been impacted due to various developmental activities and urbanisation, said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
He however informed that country has a total of 7,57,060 wetlands covering an estimated area of 15.26 million hectare, which is around 4.63 per cent of the geographical area of the country.The Space Applications Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad has prepared a National Wetland Inventory Atlas on 1:50,000 scale using Indian Remote Sensing Satellite III data of pre- and post-monsoon seasons during 2006-11.
He said that for conservation and management of wetlands, the centrally sponsored scheme - National Wetland Conservation Programme (NWCP) was implemented till 2012-13.However, to have a better synergy and to avoid overlap the NWCP has been merged with another scheme National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA) for holistic conservation of lakes and wetlands, he said.
He said that under NWCP, 115 wetlands in 24 states and two UTs have been identified for conservation and management.”So far an amount of Rs 133.64 crore has been released to the concerned states for undertaking various conservation activities,” he said.Javadekar said that to regulate certain activities within the identified wetlands, the government has notified the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules in December 2010.
Replying to another question in Rajya Sabha, Javadekar said that over 2,000 cases were pending before the National Green Tribunal till March this year 2014 since its commencement in July 2011. 4,741 cases were transferred to NGT, of which 2,678 cases were disposed until March 31, 2014 and currently 2063 cases were pending.
As per preamble of the NGT Act, 2010, the NGT has been established for the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forest and other natural resources including enforcement and giving relief and compensation for the damages to persons and property.