Harike story — Hyacinth on the way out, birds on the way in

If it happens, it would be thanks largely to efforts of the Army, which has followed the precedent set by Maj Gen R.K. Gaur’s effort to preserve Ladakh’s endangered wildlife. Till February last, two decades of efforts by the Punjab Government had not succeeded in clearing the 41 sq km of the wetland from the rust-like spread of hyacinth, which covered nearly 10 sq km. But in the space of less than 75 days, the Army’s 7 Infantry Division has completed a virtual turnaround in the sanctuary’s fortunes and doubled the open water area.

With more than 360 bird species recorded here and in the sanctuary’s vicinity, including nine near-extinct or vulnerable IUCN species, the sanctuary was hailed in the early 1980s by India’s legendary birdman Dr Salim Ali as having a potential more awesome than the Bharatpur migratory bird haven. Harike is one of the six wetlands in India, along with Chilka and Bharatpur, declared to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

However, its popularity among birds was affected by the profusion of hyacinth, a foreign weed introduced from South America. It not only prevented birds from settling in the water but stifled plant life in the water and bred seven vector diseases, including a profusion of water snakes.

That’s when the Army stepped in. With manual workers of the Punjab Wildlife & Forests Department chipping in with removing hyacinth along the Dhussi bandh, the Army deployed about 150 of its officers, jawans and labourers along with trucks, twin motorised winches, boats assault universal type (BAUTs), rakers and cutters in the backwaters of the wetland.

Helicopter sorties undertook complete videographing of the wetland, weekly satellite imagery, an accurate survey using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Position Azimuth Determing System (PADS), and a study of about 4,000 of the 40,000 websites on hyacinth paved the way for an action plan. Men from the 3 Mahar, 99 Field Regiment, 118 Engineers and the 607 EME have removed more than 1.5 lakh tonnes of hyacinth at a cost of just Rs 17 lakh,” said Col H.S. Brar, CO, 3 Mahar. “And when the going got tough, when huge masses of hyacinth were pulled through ropes linked with barrels, the young Infantry and Engineers officers jumped on the barrels to prevent them from slipping over the hyacinth,” said Capt G.P.S. Sandhu of the 3 Mahar.

“We innovated a very successful technique of pulling huge hyacinth mats up to 250 yards x 250 yards by dynamic booming, allowing us to pull out as much as 7,000 tonnes per day. Using the forces of nature by way of wind and water currents, the Army was able to cordon off the open water spaces created by the shifting hyacinth mass,” said Brig J.K.S. Saraon, Commander, 65 Infantry Brigade.

They created four water channels running roughly parallel and cleared large ater spaces along the Dhussi bandh and the South-end of hyacinth.

This reporter managed to criscross the huge lake by motorboat, something considered impossible previously. “This means 2.5 sq km of hyacinth is left and about 8-10 sq km of clear water area has been added to the sanctuary’s existing 8-10 sq km of open water spaces,” said Maj Gen Lalit Mohan Tewari, GOC, 7 Division.

The removal of the hyacinth has many implications, some of which may take long to gestate. For starters, if the Punjab Government is able to sustain the cleaning effort every year, the number of birds is expected to pick up as Harike is the first major wetland destination after Kashmir for birds flying down from the north. Ornitholigists warn, though, that the numbers will take a few years to pick up since migratory birds follow a particular path and haunt chosen places year after year.

The WWF is setting up a field station, 20 years after the BNHS conducted bird ringing camps here, and navy surveyors of the INS Satluj with a capability for accuracy of a few centimetres are likely to be deployed. The Punjab Government has slotted Rs 50 lakh for developing eco-tourism complete with bird watching towers, log huts and hotels.

Says leading wildlife filmaker Himanshu Malhotra, who has done documentaries on Bharatpur’s Siberian Crane and is doing one for this wetland as well, “Harike definitely has the potential to become Punjab’s Bharatpur. The bird arrivals are expected to increase tremendously as a result of the hyacinth removal.”

Swedish ornitholigst Per Undeland, who discovered three of Harike’s nine rare species after having worked for three years on the sanctuary, also felt it had a potential “not less than Bharatpur’s”. Maybe that time has come.