Puducherry forms biodiversity management committees, extends financial aid

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry government has constituted biodiversity management committees in a municipality and 14 village panchayats in the Union territory. It allotted Rs 1 lakh to the municipal committee and Rs 60,000 each to the 14 village panchayat committees.

Chief minister N Rangasamy presented the cheques to the representatives of the committees in the presence of speaker of the legislative assembly R Selvam, agriculture minister C Jayakumar, who holds the portfolio of forest, Puducherry biodiversity council L Kumar and deputy conservator of forests Vanjulavalli Sridhar during the International Biodiversity Day celebrations on Monday.

The newly formed committees will advise the government on the guidelines issued by the Union government on conserving biodiversity and evolve policies to preserve the ecosystem.

Rangasamy honoured 13 fishermen and seven workers of a private port for rescuing a whale, which was struggling for life after being washed ashore in Karaikal. The fishermen and the workers dragged the almost 50-foot-long mammal with ropes tied to motorized boats and left the mammal in mid sea. The chief minister presented them a cash award of Rs 10,000 each.