the Centre is putting pressure on the Gujarat government to denotify country's first marine park located in the Gulf of Kachchh and make way for industrialisation. According to reports in newspapers, the pressure has come from prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his advisor Brajesh Mishra.

Located in the Gulf of Kachchh, the park expands from Jodiya to Jakhau and has 42 islands within its premises. The park is well-known for corals and mangroves. If the park is denotified, the idyllic island of Piroton which lies adjacent, will be stripped of its charm. There are over 210 types of algae, 200 species of fish including eight sharks, over 70 types of sponges, 40 species of both hard and soft corals, about 25 varieties of prawn, 150 types of molluscs, 15 varieties of echinoderms and 78 varieties of terrestrial birds.

The park happens to be India's first marine park and has been selected as one of the four areas including Andaman and Nicobar for conservation and management of coral reefs.