Modi govt’s proposed geoheritage bill protects sites capturing Earth’s history. What it means
The Print | Jan 05, 2023
Geoheritage Sites & Geo-relics (Preservation & Maintenance) Bill lets govt declare a site to be of national importance, with 100m area around it ‘prohibited’ & 200m area ‘restricted’.
New Delhi: India’s rich geological monuments that capture the Earth’s tumultuous, evolving history in the form of rocks, sediment, and fossils, are at the grave risk of being wiped out, experts have said, highlighting the need for a law to protect these from erosion.
The warning has not gone unheeded, with the Narendra Modi government putting out a draft bill last month, for the preservation and maintenance of India’s geological heritage sites and relics. The draft Geoheritage Sites and Geo-relics (Preservation and Maintenance) Bill, 2022, published for “public consultation” by the Ministry of Mines on 15 December, aims to protect and preserve these sites for “geological studies, education, research, and for future generations as it is a non-renewable asset”.
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