· Traders failed to give data to board about bio resources
Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) has collected Access Benefit Sharing (ABS) amount worth Rs 1.19 crore but it has not been able to disburse to Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) for quite long time in absence of data about traders using bio resources from their respective areas.
As many as 43 enterprises using bio resources for commercial purposes have deposited an amount of Rs 57.23 lakh with MBBS by way of ABS while National Biodiversity Authority has deposited Rs 62.09 lakh with the board for distribution to locals. Some companies have failed to deposit ABS so far while traders have not supplied necessary information about collecting bio resources under different jurisdictions of BMCs. The authority deposited the amount with the board mentioning that the enterprises having different branches in the states used the resources from Maharashtra.
However, the board does not have exact information about the use of resources in different areas and hence it cannot decide distribution of amount to BMCs. The board gives 95 per cent of the amount to the local committees maintaining People’s Biodiversity Registers, information about bio resources in their areas, protecting and conserving the resources.
Addressing a press conference in the conference hall of the board here on Tuesday, Praveen Srivastava, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Member-Secretary of MSBB, said that the board was expediting the work of collecting data from the traders adding that it would be able to do this job in around three months. Once necessary information is collected then the board would be able to provide ABS amounts to the BMCs in Maharashtra. The board would also issue a public notice in the near future warning traders hiding information, he added.
The PCCF admitted that the advantage did not reach to the locals, despite they were preserving bio resources. The board has formed 28,649 BMCs all over Maharashtra and they prepared People’s Biodiversity Registers. However, the work was done in haste and hence there could be a possibility of deficiencies. A committee has been set up for correcting the mistakes by providing ten parameters to them. Meanwhile, the board has given Rs 17 crores to different committees for preparing the registers. He stressed the need for organising training workshops for district/taluka level officers to give information about different aspects, Srivastava added. D P Deshmuk was also present in the press conference.
