CANNING, 22 MAY: Demanding their right to the forest, Sunderbans fishermen here today said it is forest department officials who flout rules in the biosphere reserve, not villagers. "We want immediate implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006, in the islands so that high-handedness of the forest officials stops," said Sunderbans Fishworkers Joint Action Committee member Pabitra Mondal.

Tiger (Panthera tigris) populations, on average, have declined 70 per cent across the world, including Bangladesh, in the last 30 years, according to the Living Planet Report 2012.
The Living Planet Index for tigers in the Report said that forced to compete for space in some of the most densely populated regions on the earth, the tiger’s range has also declined to just 7 per cent of its former extent.

The Bengal tigers living in the Sundarbans have to be saved to protect the ecosystem of the world's largest mangrove forest, said Environment and Forests Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud yesterday.

“The presence of tigers shows a healthy ecosystem in the Sundarbans. So, we've to protect our tigers,” Dr Hasan told the inaugural session of a roundtable at Ban Bhaban (forest department) in Agargaon of the capital.

The Sunderbans Development Board (SDB), under the Sunderbans Affairs Department, has allegedly distributed inferior quality moong dal (split green gram) seeds among local farmers without the required certification from the government agency. Moreover, the quality of moong dal seeds is allegedly inferior. This at a time when the local farmers are still struggling to restore cultivation post-Aila.

Five prominent organisations yesterday demanded that the government scrap the proposed project of a coal-based thermal power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat as they said the plant, if built, would pose a threat to the Sundarbans.

At a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club, speakers said the decision of setting up a power plant on the periphery of the Sundarbans, a wildlife sanctuary and the lone habitat of Bengal tigers, was "suicidal".

The Sunderbans, spreading across Bangladesh and West Bengal, is fast emerging as the climate change flashpoint of the globe. Despite the warning signals of increased frequency of cyclones and tidal floods. The West Bengal government has drawn up a massive project to expand the Haldia port which will directly impact the western Sunderbans region.
Environmentalists already complain against increasing oil spillage from vessels in and around the Mongia Port that are adversely affecting its biodiversity.

India says any apprehensions in the minds of neighbouring countries over the proposed linkages of trans-border rivers are "misplaced", as the project has been backburnered.

The river-linking work would start only after memorandums of understanding and development project reports are prepared, Indian Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told a press conference in New Delhi yesterday.

Amid fractious relations between the Congress and Trinamool Congress, the Centre is likely to approve West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s demand for an increased annual plan outlay for her state. The move is being pegged as an attempted thaw in the equation between the two UPA allies. Mamata is meeting Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia here on Tuesday and both will arrive at a figure — expected to be Rs 24,800 crore — which is more than last year’s outlay of around Rs 22,000 crore. The allocation is understood to be spread over seven key sectors.