Bhubaneswar, Aug. 20: Chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi today directed officials to prepare a comprehensive plan balancing between wildlife conservation and development.

Padhi advised the officials to adopt appropriate technological solutions and innovative approaches to resolve the irritants between wildlife conservation and developmental interventions. The meeting discussed about preparation of micro-level plans for 51 wildlife and territorial forest divisions of the state.

The state possesses 86 species of mammals, 473 birds species and 110 reptile species. It has two national parks, 19 wildlife sanctuaries and three tiger reserves.

The Similipal and Bhitarkaniaka national parks, Chilika lake, Chandka-Dampara wildlife sanctuary, Nandankanan zoological park, Satkoshia tiger reserve, the Kuldiha and Debrigarh wildlife sanctuaries are prominent among these.

Speaking to newspersons, state's forest and environment secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said the Wild Life Trust of India had been requested to prepare the comprehensive plan within 15 months in consultation with various stakeholders, technical experts and field-level executives. Inputs would also be collected from local knowledge sources. Each department would nominate one nodal officer to give necessary data and input to the trust for preparation of the plan. "We expect the plan to be completed within the next 10 months," he said.

Issues related to bio-diversity, conservation of mammals, tigers, avian species, faunal species, fish, plants, aquatic life, marine resources and sacred groves were also discussed at the meeting. Peoples' participation in wildlife conservation, awareness about nature, wildlife health, man-animal conflict management, ecosystem restoration and habitat management also figured in the discussions.

M.K. Ranjitsinh of the wildlife trust disclosed at the inter-sectoral meeting on wildlife management that Odisha now had pioneered in working out the comprehensive wildlife management plan in the entire nation.

Odisha had earlier pioneered in many forest and wildlife management activities such as establishment of tiger reserve, riverine sanctuary, establishment of Ramsar site at the Chilika lake and conservation of the endangered olive ridley sea turtles.