New Delhi: Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu has said that there have been several improvements at the Chilika Lake and adjoining areas in the last two decades and the site has seen a drastic change since the 1990s.
“In the 1990s, Chilika Lake used to face many problems. The Chilika Development Authority made several attempts to alleviate these problems. I must laud the Orissa government, UNESCO and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) who are working to improve the infrastructure there,” he said Saturday.
Hiramatsu also said that Japan had also been associated with the development of the lake through their technical expertise and other assistance. He said: “From 2006 to 2009, Japan did a technical assistance project with the Chilika Lake Authority with a budget of around $3 million. We also helped in adding new sources of income like selling salted products and raising these.”
On the Japanese team’s work, the ambassador said it had done technical assessment studies on Chilika, biological survey, socio-economic survey of neighbouring villages and others based on which a draft plan on fisheries resource management was made.
The envoy was speaking at a symposium organised by the ONGC on Mangalajodi heritage in the national capital. The ONGC CMD Shashi Shankar, meanwhile, told reporters that they have been planning to take up skill development and all round development of infrastructure in areas around Chilika and make it a world heritage site.
“ONGC is aware that conservation efforts at Chilika require the involvement of the people of Mangalajodi. Through our CSR programme, we soon propose to undertake projects at Mangalajodi to create a sustainable model of development”, DD Mishra, Director (HR), ONGC said.
In June 2017, it was conveyed that UNESCO would facilitate the process of declaring Chilika Lake as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The symposium was also complemented with a photo-exhibition titled ‘The Mangalajodi Inheritance’ in association with The Bhubaneswar Birds Walks.
PNN