Question raised in Lok Sabha on Protection of Wetlands, 26/07/2016
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Protection of Wetlands, 26/07/2016. For conservation and management of identified wetlands in the country, the scheme of National Wetlands Conservation Programme (NWCP) was implemented till the year 2012-13. To have better synergy and to avoid overlap, the NWCP has been merged in February, 2013 with another scheme of National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) into a new integrated scheme of ‘National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems’ (NPCA) for holistic conservation of lakes and wetlands, which is operational on cost sharing basis between the Central and State Governments. Under the scheme, financial assistance has been provided to the State Governments/Union Territories for undertaking wetland conservation activities like survey & demarcation, catchment area treatment, desilting & dredging, bio-fencing, fisheries development, weed control, biodiversity conservation, pollution abatement, education & awareness and community participation etc. So far, since 1987-88 an amount of Rs.146.94 crore has been released for undertaking various conservation activities in 82 identified wetlands under NWCP / NPCA, as per State-wise details given in Annexure.