Natarajan to discuss hornbills issue with defence minister

Andaman's endangered Narcondam hornbills may get some reprieve from environment minister Jayanthi who will take up the issue of saving the scarce bird with defence minister AK Antony. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 15, 2012, 16:38:04 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Andaman's endangered Narcondam hornbills may get some reprieve from environment minister Jayanthi who will take up the issue of saving the scarce bird with defence minister AK Antony.

Several environmentalists have written to Natarajan in a bid protect around 300 Narcondum hornbills, whose only home on the globe is a 6.5 sq km island in the Andamans.

The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) recently asked environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan to take a call on the Indian Coast Guard's proposal for installation of a coastal surveillance radar, laying of a two-km road through the virgin forest, and setting up of a power supply source in the Narcondam Island Sanctuary – where the birds have been living for centuries.

The coastal guard had proposed installation of the radar to keep an eye on ships passing through Indian waters, besides poachers and intruders. "The installation of the radar would benefit wildlife by keeping a check on poaching activities," the proposal said.

Independent members of the standing committee had opposed the move. Madhusudan of the Nature Foundation and Asad Rahmani of the Bombay Natural History Society were of the view that any such activity should be handled with the utmost caution.

They have asked the coast guard to install the radar device within the already-existing police outpost on the island, instead of finding a fresh location.

The coast guards, however, told the ministry that it was not possible to install system elsewhere and the Narcondam island was the best location.

Natarajan told HT that she would be taking up the issue with efence minister Antony on finding a possible alternate location for the radar system, which is important for strategic reasons.

The minister will take a final call on the issue depending on the Defence minister's response.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.