Kakinada: Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have failed to get the UNES-CO Heritage status from the government to declare them as special bio-diversity hots-pot for eastern ghats which is much older than the western ghats.
The eastern ghats are rich in rich in bio-diversity and ren-owned for their scenic beauty. They are mainly spread in Odisha and AP and some pa-rts of Tamil Nadu and Karn-ataka. However, the Odisha and AP governments are not evincing interest and failed to exploit the potential and secure the UNESCO status.
The Eastern Ghats extend over a length of nearly 975 km from the southern end of TN to Odisha and for most of its length is along the Bay of Bengal. All most all the Dec-can Peninsular rivers such as Mahanadi, Godavari, Kri-shna and Cauvery flow from western ranges and pass th-rough the eastern ranges to the plains near the east coast and flow out through Bay of Bengal. “A Heritage Status is now absolutely necessary to save the green forest cover of the highly productive eastern ghats and the multiple rivers and streams that traverse it due to its rainfall patterns, and the wildlife sanctuaries, The thick mangrove forests along the coast at Odisha (Bittarlkanika) and AP (Coringa) and to prevent too many dam constructions and mining companies whi-ch are exerting pressure on the tribal population,” said T. Rajyalakshmi, president, Society for Promotion of In-tegrated Coastal Areas Man-agement.
“The eastern ghats are particularly known for bio-div-ersity with rich unique spec-ies, medicinal plants and others. It is high time AP and Odisha realized the importance and take steps to highlight it,” said K. Thulsirao, state co-ordinator, East God-avari Riverine Estuarine and Ecosystem, an UNDP-Gove-rnment of India and Gover-nment of AP, project.
He made a proposal to the state and Central government for the need of declaring it as bio-diversity hots-pot.
