TIMES NEWS NETWORK [WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2004 11:30:47 PM]
NEW DELHI: For the second time in as many months, over 40 activists have come together to protest the Union environment ministry’s poor record in protecting wildlife from destructive development and commercial pressures, demand people have a greater say in decisions and critical wildlife and bio-diversity habitats be closed to large-scale development projects.
In an open letter faxed to the ministry on Monday, during the ongoing National Wildlife Week, activists have listed “a few examples” of project clearances based on a “poor” impact assessment process.
No less than 18 examples are given, from the Lower Subansiri hydel project in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh to uranium exploration in Andhra Pradesh, mining in Bihar’s Valmiki tiger reserve, oil pipelines and allied activities in the marine national park in the Gulf of Kutch, oil prospecting in Rajasthan’s desert national park, iron ore mining in the Kudremukh national park, the Dhamra port in Orissa and a super speciality heart hospital inside Rajaji national park in Uttaranchal. [more]
