Worth its salt

IN the quieter western parts of the Sambhar Lake, the flamingoes have landed, like they do every winter. And to ensure their return, the Raj...

IN the quieter western parts of the Sambhar Lake, the flamingoes have landed, like they do every winter. And to ensure their return, the Rajasthan state forest department has drafted a new policy, to preserve India8217;s largest salt water lake.

Standing on the periphery of the lake, anyone on the lookout for the birds will have to look hard. They have to look beyond thousands of salt manufacturing units, happily sinking bore wells and making salt while the sun shines. In the search for birds, it is hard to miss the people, many encroaching into the dry lake bed.

For years, bird watchers and the forest department have also watched in horror. They have watched the state government carve out land along the lake bed and distribute it and in the last five years, they have seen salt manufacturers take over.

8216;8216;That the lake is an internationally acclaimed wetland site has been completely forgotten,8217;8217; says an official. 8216;8216;We needed to remind people and protect the place. Under the Environment Protection Act, the draft proposes to do that, banning all activity within two km of the lake8217;s periphery.8217;8217;

The warning signs were spotted in 1999, when environmentalist Harkirat Singh Sangha prepared a status report for the government.

This saline lake covers an area of 190 sq km and is straddled by three districts, Jaipur, Nagaur and Ajmer. While the 8216;8216;natural, undisturbed, continuous sheet of water8217; lies in the west, about 80 sq km of the east is used for extraction of salt.

D. Shukal has been in the salt business for years. As general manager of the central government owned Sambhar Salts Limited, he has enjoyed the lake and its birds more than most people. 8216;8216;I like it here. But so much has changed since my last stint here.8217;8217;

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While Jaipur district has not yet succumbed to the pressure of opening up the lake to salt manufacturers, in neighbouring Nagaur, licenses were doled out liberally.

Many of the smaller units are illegal. 8216;8216;The saddest thing is that they get away scot free,8217;8217; says Shukal. 8216;8216;They don8217;t pay for anything, they make sub-standard salt and they do all this at the cost of the lake.8217;8217;

8216;8216;There is so much illegal mining,8217;8217; an official says. Senior draftsman R.P. Verma is always on the prowl, ensuring no one encroaches on the Sambhar Salts property. 8216;8216;Ironically, there are already rules that ban such activity so close to the lake. But who cares.8217;8217; Well, now the forest department does.