SHILLONG, DEC 16: Shillong MP Dr Ricky AJ Syngkon has appealed to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav to intervene and protect the Experimental Botanical Garden at Barapani, Shillong, from acquisition for the Greenfield NH-6 alignment.
In a letter on Tuesday, Syngkon highlighted the garden’s significance, stating, “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 emphasized that the garden’s conservation value outweighs the benefits of the highway project, saying, “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 has requested the ministry to examine the proposal in consultation with experts and accord protection to the site.
(I also request the ministry to) advise the Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways and its project 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 stated, urging the minister to take necessary action.
By Our Reporter
