Thackeray approves new members of State Board for Wildlife

Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray’s approval of new members led to the reconstitution of the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) on Tuesday late evening.

Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray’s approval of new members led to the reconstitution of the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) on Tuesday late evening. The new-look 29-member board was formed eight months after the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government came to power last November.

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SBWL is responsible for taking key conservation-related and policymaking decisions for all 49 wildlife sanctuaries, including six tiger reserves, five national parks, and protected forests in Maharashtra. It also issues clearances for development projects, suggests wildlife mitigation measures, and is the recommending body for notification of new protected areas. The board will be able to exercise powers in line with the Wildlife Act, 1972.

SBWL authorities had last met in December 2018, due to which several key decisions, including translocation of big cats, the fate of big-ticket development projects, and wildlife measures have been on hold over the past 18 months.

On Tuesday evening, the Maharashtra government announced and published a government resolution (GR) that the CM would be the chairman of the board, with forest minister Sanjay Rathore as vice-chairman.

Nitin Kakodkar, principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) (wildlife), was appointed the member secretary of SBWL starting July 7, a post which has a fixed three-year tenure.

HT had reported on May 17 that the state chief wildlife warden had written to the Maharashtra government, drawing attention to the defunct SBWL and requesting its immediate reconstitution.

SBWL is the nodal authority that takes decisions on major research projects in wildlife zones.

“It is an important body for all wildlife-related activities in the state. The reconstituted board will give an impetus for wildlife conservation in Maharashtra,” said Kakodkar.

SBWL’s new meeting date is yet to be announced. “We hope a meeting is convened urgently to take several pending decisions on the lines of similar exercises that have been undertaken by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), via video-conference links because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.

SBWL’s final recommendations on key development projects such as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train; wildlife mitigation measures for Mumbai-Nagpur expressway (Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg); 126km-long Virar-Alibag multi-modal corridor; railways’ dedicated Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor; Goregaon-Mulund tunnel which will pass through the boundaries of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, and two interstate irrigation projects Pranahita Chevella and Chanaka-Korata between Maharashtra and Telangana have been pending since December 2018.

Other members of SBWL include state environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray; minister of state (forests) Dattatraya Bharane, and Dheeraj Deshmukh, a member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly (MLA).

Environmentalist Bittu Sahgal from Mumbai; Kishor Rithe from Amravati; Anuj Khare from Pune; Vishwas Katdare from Ratnagiri; Kundan Hate from Nagpur, and Suhas Waingankar from Kolhapur are among the non-government members of SBWL.

The board will also include a representative each for the MoEFCC, Maharashtra Police, Indian Army, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Botanical Survey of India, Bombay Natural History Society, Wildlife Institute of India, Wildlife Conservation Trust, and commissioners of both state fisheries and animal husbandry departments.

“SBWL is the highest wildlife policy-making body in the state. Maharashtra has followed several good practices since 2010 while dealing with the negative impacts of infrastructure projects. The new-look SBWL will take this work forward. Besides, CM Thackeray himself is a wildlife lover,” said Rithe, a non-government member of the board.