Shillong, Dec 16: Shillong MP Ricky AJ Syngkon has sought the intervention of Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav to protect the Experimental Botanical Garden at Barapani, Shillong, from acquisition for the greenfield NH-6 alignment.
In a letter addressed to the minister on Tuesday, Syngkon said, “The garden is widely recognised as one of India’s best-maintained and richest plant conservatories, housing over 1,200 species, including endemics, endangered and threatened taxa from the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot.”
He said the garden’s conservation value outweighs the benefits of the highway project
The irreversible loss or fragmentation of this unique conservation asset would be vastly disproportionate to the marginal benefit of routing a portion of the highway through this area.”
Syngkon wanted the ministry to examine the proposal in consultation with experts and accord protection to the site and the implementing agency – NHIDCL to adopt an alternative alignment for the Greenfield NH-6 corridor that completely bypasses the garden, ensuring its integrity as a gene sanctuary and a research-education hub and to consider appropriate recognition or notification of the garden as a critical biodiversity conservation area of national importance, so that all future development proposals in its vicinity undergo rigorous environmental and biodiversity-impact scrutiny.”
“The Experimental Botanical Garden at Barapani is a matter of pride not only for Meghalaya but for the entire country,” Syngkon added.
