Telangana Forests and Environment Minister A Indrakaran Reddy today instructed the forest department officials of the state to expedite the identification and demarcation of wetlands in the state, and asked them to constitute a technical committee to guide the process.
While chairing a meeting of the State Wetland Authority (SWA), a new wing of the forest department constituted last year, at the Aranya Bhavan, the minister said that the state government was committed to the protection of the biodiversity hotspots in the state, and stressed that an important step towards this was the conservation of wetlands.
In this regard, he asked the SWA officials to coordinate with the environment, irrigation, revenue, fisheries and forestry departments to prepare a comprehensive report identifying local wetlands, and directed them to also take into account the suggestions of the people living near the areas while preparing the same.
Reddy also highlighted the need to take immediate steps to protect fish, birds and other creatures facing extinction due to pollution and habitat destruction.
"Contaminated water is endangering not only the aquatic biodiversity in the state, but also the birds and various terrestrial creatures that depend on the polluted water sources. We must all work together to protect these endangered species to ensure that the ecological balance of the swamplands in the state is not irreversibly damaged," he said.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) R Shobha, Additional PCCF (Wildlife) Siddhanth Kukreti and Telangana State Pollution Control Board Secretary Neetu Kumari Prasad were also present at the meeting.