ADB grant in June for Sunderbans

kolkata: the asian development bank is expected to give a grant of $525,000 for sunderbans development in june, saurabh das, secretary, sunderban affairs department, told tnn on saturday. the grant will be used for complete resource mapping of the 19 blocks of the sunderbans spread over two districts. “we are really looking forward to it.the technical cost will be borne by adb while we will provide administrative support,� said das.the project has three components — conservation planning, assessment and development of alternative livelihood for locals and infrastructure development. das said that although his department acted as the nodal centre for various agencies working in sunderbans, there was no master plan as yet. das was among the top government officials and ngo activists who came together at a seminar on disaster management for the sunderbans, organised by nature environment & wildlife society (news) at police record bhavan. “the sunderbans is actually meant for tigers, but now human beings have made it their homes,� said a. pattanayak, principal secretary, sunderban affairs department of the state government. that seems to have added to the problems of this disaster-prone ‘specially challenged’ area. surprisingly though, there is no disaster management plan yet. sunderban affairs minister kanti ganguly hoped that an action plan emerged out of the discussions.he sought the help of prasun mukherjee, ig south bengal and president of news. mukherjee said, “the seminar has brought together different agencies working in the sunderbans. within a month of this seminar, we will publish an action plan involving all the departments concerned, ngos and the local people.�