Leh, Sept 20, 2024: The Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Brigadier (DR) BD Mishra (Retd) chaired the 10^th Meeting of State Board for Wildlife of UT Ladakh, at the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat.

At the outset, the HLG requested wildlife expert, Dr MK Ranjitsingh, IAS (Retd) to assist UT Administration in, 1) profiling wildlife in Ladakh, 2) drafting wildlife policy of Ladakh and 3) preservation of wildlife based on warden care by appointing Army officials as honorary wildlife wardens and submit the draft at the earliest. The HLG emphasised the need to raise public awareness about preserving wildlife and stopping poaching and trafficking of wildlife, etc. He stated that efforts should be made and initiatives must be taken to raise familiarity among tourists about the wildlife and their preservation in Ladakh.  

Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Shri Brij Mohan Sharma, IFoS, apprised the Board members of the agenda points for the meeting, viz. confirmation of minutes of the meeting of 9^th Meeting of State Board for Wildlife of UT Ladakh; verification of impact zone and safety zone for Mandal Thang Field Firing Range in Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary; the reporting of new species of bear, i.e. Tibetan Brown Bear/Tibetan Blue Bear from High Altitude Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary which was spotted in Kungyam and verified by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the publication about the same in Oryx; survey population estimation of Tibetan Gazelle found in High Altitude Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary; notification of State Tree (Shukpa) and State Flower (Tser-sNon); ex-gratia compensation of man-animal conflicts; notification of honorary wildlife warden and training workshop for Army/ITBP officials and wildlife clearance for 14 Army infrastructure development projects and five defence road projects in Karakoram and Changthang Wildlife Sanctuaries.

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Approving all the agenda points, including the infrastructure development and defence road projects, the HLG emphasised the importance of taking steps to ensure that the Tibetan Blue Bear is protected and not harmed by the people in Changthang area by including the endangered species in the Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Terming killing of wildlife as a cognisable offence, the HLG informed the Board members that he would write a letter to the  General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 14 Corps in this regard.

The HLG also released poster and pamphlets on ‘The Big Seven of Ladakh’, Brown Bear ‘Denmo’ and the State Bird (Black-Necked Crane), State Plant (Shukpa), State Animal (Snow Leopard) and State Flower (Tser-sNon) for school students to raise awareness about the rich flora and fauna of Ladakh. He highlighted the need for the wide publicity and reach of the initiative of publication of the poster and pamphlets to take pride in Ladakh’s rich wildlife, flora and fauna to ensure a rich future for the coming generations.

Wildlife expert Dr MK Ranjitsingh highlighted the important role of the Army in the preservation of wildlife in Ladakh and the threat of feral dogs to wildlife of Ladakh and the need to control their population.

Member of Parliament from Ladakh, Shri Mohmad Haneefa Jan; Deputy Chairman, LAHDC Leh, Shri Tsering Angchuk; Advisor to the HLG, Dr Pawan Kotwal, IAS; ADGP Ladakh Police, Dr SD Singh Jamwal, IPS; Commissioner/Secretary, Dr Vasanthakumar N, IAS; Commissioner/Secretary, Smt Padma Angmo, IIS; Commissioner/Secretary to the HLG, Dr L Franklin, IAS; PCCF UT Ladakh, Shri Brij Mohan Sharma, IFoS; Chief Wildlife Warden, Shri Sajjad Hussain Mufti, IFoS; Wildlife expert, Dr MK Ranjitsingh, IAS (Retd); wildlife expert, Dr Yash Veer Bhatnagar; Dr RK Singh from Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE); Army officials; officials from wildlife department, wildlife experts and other government officials joined the meeting physically and virtually.