Port Blair, Oct. 21: Mr. Vishal Jolly, Former State President BJP, A&N Islands along with Shri K. Ram Das, President, A&NSSAWA & State General Secretary, BJP and Shri Nand Kishore, Convener, Central Govt. Scheme of BJP-A&N Island met the Hon’ble Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Shri Bupender Yadav at New Delhi on 20.10.2021.

During the meeting Jolly placed the long standing demand of local artisans before the Minister and requested to release prohibitions from Schedule IV of Wild Life Act on those sea shell items essentially required for the survival of the this industry. He requested to allow reasonable and sustainable extraction only for consumption of local Artisans working in this sector so that the industry may survive.  Apart from this the delegation also discussed other forest related issues of the Islands.

After hearing the plight of the local artisan’s, the Union Minister assured the delegation to positively look into the matter and said that the issue will be resolved soon.