Man and nature work together to kill sanctuaries

At the Thol sanctuary near here, the water level in the 7 km-wide bird sanctuary is less than a foot deep. Even this water has shrunk to the middle of the lake and lies in small poodles. Says Kandarp Kadju, an avid bird-watcher who frequents the place, ‘‘There is little fish in the water.’’

Now tractors plough the area where winter birds should have been roosting. According to sources in the forest department, although about 700 hectares of Thol was declared a sanctuary in 1988, farmers who were cultivating this piece of land have neither been resettled nor has land been provided to them elsewhere for farming. So they continue to grow crops in the lake area.

Although no scientific survey has been conducted, the forest department says the number of migratory birds has come down this year. ‘‘Only Nal Sarovar, which has good water, has birds coming this year. Elsewhere, dry lakes mean no birds this time,’’ Chief Wildlife Warden G.A. Patel said.

Shrinking sanctuaries are facing further danger from mushrooming human habitations. Be it the Thol bird sanctuary, the lion sanctuary at Sasan-Gir, the black buck sanctuary at Velavadar in Bhavnagar or the marine national park in Jamnagar, there is tremendous pressure on the flora and fauna from humans.In more than a dozen wildlife and bird sanctuaries in the state, conservation is taking a superficial meaning because proper human resettlement has not been done due to which the same habitat is shared by both wildlife and man. This, despite a Supreme Court ruling asking all sanctuaries to complete resettlement process of forest dwellers by October 1998 outside the sanctuaries at any cost.In Sasan-Gir, human population within the sanctuary has crossed 5,000. This includes 500 maldhari families, 14 forest settlement villages besides 20,000 livestock. ‘‘The growing population inside the sanctuary is resulting in degeneration of ecosystem and destruction of habitat and decline in prey base besides nipping in the bud the Gir management project,’’ says deputy conservator of forests (Sasan) B.P. Pati.

‘‘Cultivable land near the sanctuary has increased by 300 per cent over the last five years. What is worrying is the slow encroachment that is taking place due to this. Also, a change in crop pattern from groundnut and millet to sugarcane and mango is posing a problem because leopards, lions and other big wildlife foray into them frequently which is risky,’’ Pati says.

The rehabilitation project, launched by the forest department and the revenue department has fallen flat on its face.

Says the Forest Minister Kanjibhai Patel, ‘‘Resettlement projects are failing and the people who have been allotted land elsewhere in lieu of that in the sanctuaries are returning within a few months. They are unhappy for a variety of reasons. Primarily they don’t want to leave the place where they have been living for years. We are working out other alternatives,’’ Kanjibhai told The Indian Express.

Chief Conservator of Forests G A Patel says ‘settlement survey’ in the state has not been done yet been. ‘‘Sanctuaries have been declared but settlement surveys have never been carried out. So you cannot stop encroachment. Besides, encroachments near or in protected are being regularised so we have no powers.’’

In Velavadar, increasing agriculture land is destroying the 55-km ‘ecological zone’ between Bhavnagar and Velavadar which is home for a large population of black buck. ‘‘Forseeing that farming is spreading its tentacles right upto the 34 sq kms Velavadar National Park, the forest department has built a fence around this small sanctuary to stop encroachments,’’ says Assistant Conservator of Forest Velavadar L N Jadeja.

Marine life in the Marine National Park in Jamnagar is also breathing hard for life thanks to oil spills and pollution on the coast.

Industrial development near these sanctuaries also is taking its toll. If oil puddles caused by ONGC wells near Thol bird sanctuary create unpleasant grounds, the industries that have mushroomed on the Jamnagar coast are causing pollution. Also industrial development in Junagadh and Veraval has resulted in increased traffic along the five state highways ( SH 23, SH 33, Sh 98, SH 101 and SH 111) which cris-cross through the Gir sanctuary.

The situation is the same in the Khijadia bird sanctuary in Jamnagar where salt works are coming up, at Nal Sarovar near Ahmedabad and Narayan Sarovar in Kutch where the presence of a large number of pilgrims discourages birds.

‘‘It is like a double-edged sword. When they were not sanctuaries they were pillaged and degraded. Now by giving permission to selective industries you are allowing it to continue,’’ fumes G A Patel.