MoEFCC urges NGT to direct States to submit annual plan of operation for Neelakurinji conservation

Neelakurinji in bloom on the Chokramudy hills, near Munnar, in Idukki. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has requested the National Green Tribunal to direct Keralam, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka to submit an annual plan of operation incorporating a conservation action plan for Strobilanthes kunthiana, popularly known as Neelakurinji, an endemic shrub seen in the Western Ghats.The Ministry submitted its request before the Principal Bench of the tribunal in New Delhi, which had taken suo motu cognisance of the report Neelakurinji becomes a threatened species, officially published in The Hindu.Historical records from 1832 to 2018 had documented the occurrence of the endemic shrub, which blooms once in 12 years, across 34 localitie