KARACHI, May 10: Three million rupees has so far been released for the protection of green turtles during the current financial year, said Sindh Minister for Wildlife Daya Ram during the question hour in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday.

He added that the government launched the scheme 'Protection and Conservation of Marine Turtle' in the year 2009-10 with an estimated cost of Rs93.651 million.

However, the minister said, the PC-I allocation of Rs37.580 million for 2010-11 was reduced to Rs20 million due to a financial crunch. Of this allocation, Rs3 million had been released so far, he added.

Referring to the protected species and penalties for their illegal hunting, the minister said that there was imprisonment of minimum two months and maximum 12 months plus a fine between Rs300,000 and Rs400,000 for illegal hunting of Ibex and Urial.

The illegal hunting of hog deer and Chinkara deer carried a penalty between Rs100,000 and Rs200,000 with imprisonment up to two months, he added.

The minister further said that the penalty for illegal hunting of hare was between Rs100,000 and Rs150,000 with imprisonment between one month and six months.

The illegal hunting of partridges, Sandgrouse and waterfowl (ducks) carried a penalty of at least Rs250 for each game bird and up to Rs100,000 with imprisonment between 15 days and three months, he added.

However, he said, the compounding authority determined the penalty for illegal hunting of March Crocodiles.

In addition to these penalties, compensation up to Rs50,000 was recoverable in every offence under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance, 1972, he said.

While replying to supplementary questions pertaining to the women development department, Minister Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto informed the assembly that efforts were being made to provide market access to rural women artisans so that they could earn their livelihoods independently.

She said the department was promoting the skills of rural women by providing them marketing links through sales offices operating at the district level with the active support of local NGOs.

In reply to a question, the minister said that committees were constituted by district sale offices for the collection of items. She said quality inspectors examined and selected the items which were put on display at various festivals and on other occasions.

She said that presently there was only one sale and display centre, which was established last year at the directorate of women development. She added that the department planned to establish more such display centres as soon as fund was made available.

In reply to a question, she informed the house that the present directorate was situated at a private bungalow in Karachi and it would be soon shifted to the Sindh secretariat.The minister also informed the house that women complexes were built at Benazirabad (Nawabshah) and Sukkur for their development.

Besides, she said, seminars were also held by the department for the promotion of high quality items made by local small entrepreneurs.