Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday unveiled the Integrated Management Plan of Chilika and called for greater focus on controlling the silt flow into the lagoon. He was speaking at a workshop on ‘Integrated Management Planning Framework of Chilika Lake,’ organised by the Chilika Development Authority. Chilika being a coastal wetland, the climate change issues need to be dealt with appropriately in the management plan, he added.
Forest and Environment Minister Bijoyshree Routray said, transmission of data telemetrically on water quality monitoring is being adopted for the first time in India at Chilika. The State, he said, has proposed before Ramsar Secretariat to declare Hirakud, Ansupa and Kanjia lakes as Ramsar Sites. Secretary-General of Ramsar Secretariat Anada Tiega, vice-president, Governing Body of Wetland International, South Asia, Sudhir Pandey, Secretary, Forest and Environment Department, RK Sharma, MPs Pinaki Mishra and Prasanna Pattsani, MLA Sanjay Das Burma and Chief Executive of CDA Ajit Patnaik spoke.