AGARTALA, Oct 13 (TIWN): Union Minister of Forest and Environment will convened a meeting of all MPs of the state located lower Himalayan range region. There are 12 states in the region. Agartala likely to host the meeting next year, informed sources said. The minister announced this while addressing the fourth annual general meeting of Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) at Itanagar held on October 7. From Tripura, the seminar was attended by MLA Prabhat Chaudhury and special secretary, science and technology department Debashish Chakraborty. The seminar was organised by the Sustainable Development Forum Arunachal Pradesh (SDFA) under the aegis of(IMI), around 235 delegates from 12 mountain states of the country including 45 thematic experts are participating in the three-day event.

The union minister said the centre is paying special attention towards those states located at lower Himalayan range.The Centre has earmarked Rs 150 crore for carrying out a detailed study of the Himalayan ecosystem..

 "The mountain states with all resources, both natural and human, are very promising. Due to geographical and historical reasons, these resources are either under-utilised or ill-utilised,"  the minister  said in his deliberation. Policy decisions to protect and sustainably harness these resources must be put in place and the Centre’s role was paramount in providing an umbrella for all mountain states, preferably in the form of a separate ministry, he said.

State MLA in his deliberation said. "It is necessary for the mountain states to come together and think of our sustained existence as also for the sustained existence of the mountains,"  The fourth Himalayan Legislators Meet and a Chief Secretaries conclave would be organized as part of the summit.