Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at a webinar on the occasion of World Turtle Day today
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– globalbihari bureau
New Delhi: On the occasion of World Turtle Day today, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat stressed the need to understand the importance of turtles.
“Turtles have been cleaning our water resources and they don’t charge us for doing that job,” he said at a webinar organised by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), along with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), its project partner in the ‘Biodiversity Conservation Initiative Phase II’, and attended by Ganga Praharis and their mentors from five Ganga states along with senior officials.
Shekhawat said turtles were worshipped in India from time immemorial and in order to conserve them and other wildlife, the NMCG had taken up several initiatives including establishing conservation centers and creating public awareness about the subject.
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On the occasion, winners of the World Turtle Day painting, slogan writing and essay competitions which were conducted using the online platform, were announced. Children from different parts of India and abroad participated in this online competition.
To mark the day, a Children’s story book on turtles, “Bin Vetanke Kare Safai” was released by Shri Shekhawat. This book covers facts about turtles in an interesting story-telling manner. Shri Shekhawat appreciated the innovatively written book which highlights the importance of turtles in maintaining the river ecosystem and appealed to all to contribute to conservation of turtles in our river systems.
The Webinar also saw a poster story on Interesting Facts on Turtles for Children being played. This poster story presents some interesting facts about the turtles and different threats to them.
A documentary on “Turtles of Ganga River Basin” was also showcased for the participants This documentary is made to make people aware about various type of turtles found in the Ganga River.
On the occasion, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, NMCG, while appreciating the efforts of WII and Ganga Praharis for their active participation in making people aware about conservation of Biodiversity, appealed to all to come forward and join hands for the conservation of turtles and the biodiversity of the river Ganga.
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