Chandigarh, Sep 6 (IANS) The Punjab government Monday asked the union government to declare the Shivalik ranges as a 'biosphere reserve' area.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal urged union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh at a bio-diversity boards' meeting here to look into the suggestion and announce the Shivalik as the first inter-state bio-diversity corridor of the country.

This corridor will pass through Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

'Various states are associated with this project. We have received the proposal only from Punjab, and so we have to talk to the other states for consensus,' said Ramesh later while talking to reporters here.

The minister said sand-mining mafias would protest the move as the Shivalik ranges is known for sandstone and conglomerate rock formations. However, there would be no prohibition on mining.

'We will not stop mining but follow a sustainable approach towards it. There would be a monitoring committee to draft a bio-diversity plan and only then we would allow any economic activity in the area,' Ramesh said.

Ramesh was the chief guest at the inaugural session of the sixth edition of three-day national meeting of state bio-diversity boards that began here Monday.

The state government has also asked Ramesh to declare the Emami Bagh area in Hoshiarpur district as a bio-diversity site. The union minister said he would look into the request. He announced that a peacock breeding centre will be established at Bathinda town in Punjab in the next few months.