Gujarat: Wildlife board reconstituted after 15 months; experts, conservationists included

Gandhinagar, July 14 (IANS) After a gap of more than a year, the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) has been reconstituted by the Gujarat government. The new board, comprising 27 members, will be led by Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel, and includes former forest officers who bring their expertise to the table.

The reconstitution comes after a 15-month hiatus following the dissolution of the previous board. The newly-constituted SBWL consists of prominent conservationists, ecologists and environmentalists as its members.

Notable additions to the board include Dhanraj Nathwani, Senior Vice-President of Reliance Industries; Suresh Bhatt, a trustee of Lakhota Nature Club in Jamnagar; Sanjay Kelaiya from the Natural Heritage Conservation Society in Junagadh; Chandravijaysinh Rana, former wildlife warden of Jamnagar; Rohit Shashikant Vyas, a former member of SBWL from Vadodara; and Devvratsinh Mori from Wadhwan, Surendranagar.

The board also features two former forest officers – R.D. Kamboj and C.N. Pandey, who is associated with IIT Gandhinagar.

To ensure diverse perspectives, the board has allocated three spots for representatives from NGOs. Additionally, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will have one representative on the board.