'Decision on night safari after panchayat election'

The proposal will be discussed with Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy before arriving at any decision, he said on Saturday at an international seminar on Conservation, Cultivation, Sustainable Collection, Processing and Marketing of Medicinal Plants, organised by the Department of Ayush, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare here.

Vijayshankar said Reddy had assured him that there would be no threat to wildlife in the park with the implementation of the project.

“We will work out a suitable solution in this regard,” he said.

Earlier during the seminar, he said the forest department would take every possible step to conserve rare medicinal and aromatic plants in the State. A separate wing in the forest department will be established to revive endangered medicinal plants in the State forests, he said.

“We have appointed a committee to study endangered plants and to work out a conservation strategy. The committee will submit its report at the earliest,” he said adding that his department was ready to support private firms in this endeavour.