NAGPUR: The state government has reconstituted Maharashtra Ecotourism Development Board (MEDB) by appointing its governing council and executive council. The MEDB was set up in 2015 to boost ecotourism in the state and create employment opportunities for local youth.
The governing council is headed by a forest minister while the executive council is headed by the principal chief conservator of forest (HoFF). As per the rules framed by the government, four members have been appointed to the governing council and four to the executive council.
The four members in the governing council include APCCF & field director Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), Puneet Chatwal, chairman, CII national committee on tourism and hospitality, Chetan Dunakhe, general secretary, Maharashtra Tour Organizers Association, Mumbai, and ecotourism expert Sunil Karkare, director, Nisarga, Kolhapur.
The executive council consists of Vijay Ghuge, president, Nisarg Vidnyan Mandal, Nagpur, Ujwala Chakradeo, architect and principal of Manoramabai Munde College of Architecture, Prafulla Bhamburkar, coordinator and project advisor, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), and Harshawardhan Dhanwatey of Tigress at Ghosri.