The first meeting of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) biodiversity committee was held on Monday. In an attempt to monitor the usage of natural resources and protect the biodiversity of the city, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had given her consent on the formation of the first ever biodiversity management committee in the civic body.
The panel will comprise eight BMC department heads and five environmentalists with expertise in different branches in the panel. Ashok Yamgar, chief of BMC Solid Waste Management Department, Dr Sanjay Tripathi, director of Byculla zoo, and Sushama Parchure of BMC air pollution lab are the senior members of the panel.
Shiv Sena Member of the Parliament (MP) Arvind Sawant and Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Ajay Choudhary are the special invitee members of the panel.
BMC had initiated the formation of a biodiversity panel in 2017, following the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court's order to have a biodiversity panel in all the urban governance bodies.
As per the biodiversity act, this committee regulates access to the natural resources and will help in the conservation and preservation of biodiversity. "In the first meeting, we had an introductory session, where panelists discussed their roles and exchanged ideas over preserving the biodiversity of Mumbai," Dr Sanjay Tripathi told the Free Press Journal.
The committee will have four meetings every year and the panel will conduct a comprehensive study of the natural resources to formulate a people's register.
