Now Reading: MoEFCC asks NGT to order States on Neelakurinji plan
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MoEFCC asks NGT to order States on Neelakurinji plan
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has asked the National Green Tribunal to direct Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to submit annual plans of operation for the conservation of…
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has asked the National Green Tribunal to direct Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to submit annual plans of operation for the conservation of Neelakurinji, the endemic shrub that blooms once every 12 years in the Western Ghats. The Ministry made the request before the NGT's Principal Bench, which had taken suo motu cognisance of a report in The Hindu that listed Neelakurinji as a threatened species.
The conservation action plan, prepared by the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, cites threats from unregulated tourism and infrastructure expansion. The Ministry said it will act as a facilitating and funding agency, and has released Rs 5.9 crore to Kerala in 2025-26 under the Development of Wildlife Habitats scheme.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The NGT's involvement follows a newspaper report that catalogued the shrub's decline across 34 historical locations in 14 ecoregions, from Brahmagiri to Yercaud. The key gap has been the absence of a coordinated, multi-State response despite the species spanning five major landscapes. The Ministry's request essentially asks the tribunal to enforce what existing wildlife habitat funding already mandates: a state-level annual plan. If the NGT issues a direction, the three States will have to submit a specific timeline for removing invasive species, restoring montane grasslands, and setting carrying-capacity limits for tourism. The next hearing date will determine how quickly this moves from a proposal to a binding compliance order.
Source: thehindu.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
