Wildlife authorities have requested the Centre to carry out research on the fauna in the state

Jamshedpur, Sept. 28: The state forest department has sent proposals to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to include the Saranda forest in West Singhbhum, the plant fossil reserves at Rajmahal and the fort and national park in Palamau in the list of world heritage sites.

Unesco had recently sought a list of proposed sites to be included in the world heritage catalogue from the Union forest and environment ministry.

The Centre had asked the state forest department to furnish a list of three sites, which could be accorded world heritage site status,? forest officials said.

?We have sent the list to the Centre, which has been forwarded to Unesco,? chief wildlife warden of the state U.R. Biswas told The Telegraph. ?We are optimistic that the international organisation will include our proposals in the list of world heritage sites,? he said.

If these become heritage centres, Unesco will provide funds to the state forest department for their upkeep.

?The funds from Unesco will help the forest department maintain the sites and upgrade infrastructure,? sources said. ?Moreover, these three locations will become major tourist destinations as it will have the backing of Unesco,? forest officials said.

Saranda is popular as it is the biggest saal reserve in Asia. Although this forest reserve has lost much of its charm because of growing extremism over the past few years, Saranda still remains one of the favourite tourist destinations.

Similarly, the fort and national park at Palamau ?both managed by the forest department ? are famous as hundreds of tourists from Bengal, Orissa and Bihar visit Palamau every year.

?We have also decided to include the fossil reserves in Rajmahal,? sources said.

Insiders said the state forest department has also approached the wildlife wing of the Union forest and environment ministry to carry out research projects in the state.

There was a high-level meeting of wildlife officials of the Centre and different state governments at Dehra Dun recently. Some top officials of the forest department, including Biswas, attended it.

?We have requested the functionaries of the Union government to carry out research work in wildlife in the state. We want some kind of study on wildlife in the state as nothing has been done till date,? an official, who attended the meeting, said.

The central wildlife authorities have promised that they would try their best to heed the request of the forest department.

?We have been directed to send a proposal to the Centre giving details of the topics on which it wants to carry out research. We will furnish the list shortly,? a senior official of the department said.