‘No need to de-notify turtle sanctuary’
Arecent news report regarding a proposal to de-notify the turtle sanctuary in river Ganga at Varanasi and possibly to shift it at another place caused me to become somewhat perturbed.
I understand that due to the sanctuary, some civil works proposed under the Ganga Cleaning Project are held up, hence the proposal to de-notify it.
However, as founder of this sanctuary, I would like to narrate as to why and how this sanctuary was created and how this retrograde step can be avoided.
Ganga Cleaning Project is of the utmost importance and obstacles need to be r
emoved for its implementation. But this sanctuary was created as part of Ganga Action Plan, initiated by Government of India around 1984, with the sole purpose of cleaning Ganga, by using biological control method of pollution, caused by putrefaction of a large number of half burnt corpses thrown in the river daily from cremation ghats at Varanasi.
The wildlife wing of the UP forest department mooted the idea of introducing and supplementing highly depleted population of scavenger turtles in Ganga at Varanasi ghats, as carnivorous turtles are nature’s scavengers/ purifiers of aquatic ecosystems, without causing any conflict with human use of that ecosystem.
With this idea, a project to breed scavenger turtles in captivity at Sarnath and subsequent release in Ganga at Varanasi, providing protective cover to them against poaching (illegal netting, rampant at that time) by creating a sanctuary, was prepared and submitted to the government for approval, seeking financial assistance under the on- going Ganga Action Plan.
The project was not only approved with financial assistance , but also hailed by the then Prime Minister.
This biological pollution control method, , besides being the cheapest and everlasting , proved very effective and needs to be sustained if Ganga is to be kept clean.
Protective cover to turtles and other aquatic fauna needed to keep Ganga water clean, is necessary in the form of a sanctuary.
As for the conflict between sanctuary and other activities required for cleaning Ganga, my suggestions are as under :The purpose of declaring part of the Ganga near Varanasi as a sanctuary is to ensure survival of aquatic fauna, maintaining an equilibrium within itself, to help keep Ganga water clear of pollution, caused by human activities.
Pollution- free water is the requirement of aquatic fauna also for its survival and the objective of Ganga Action Plan is also the same.
Therefore any activity under the Ganga Action Plan is nothing but habitat improvement for aquatic fauna in the sanctuary.
Even dredging and lifting sand from river bed, to deepen the river to ensure deep water, is part of habitat improvement for aquatic fauna.
Therefore, such activities are permissible in a sanctuary or any protected area, under Wild Life Protection Act 1972. So, where is the conflict between sanctuary and the activities proposed under Ganga Action Plan? In fact, the objectives of the sanctuary and Ganga Action Plan are complementary.
The remark of the Union minister for water resources, regarding the sanctuary being illegal, as reported in the news report is correct, because, strictly speaking, any protected area is illegally constituted as long as settlement proceedings ,required under the Act are not completed and final notification u/s 26A of the Act is issued. This legal formality has not yet been completed in the turtle sanctuary.
Therefore, the settlement proceedings should be completed as quickly as possible.
The sanctuary only needs protection from direct threat of bullet, netting/ snaring and poisoning of feed and if these threats are eliminated by strict laws and proper enforcement, the rest is taken care of by the fauna itself.
I feel it should not be necessary to de-notify an existing turtle sanctuary, making the river stretch, vulnerable for poaching of turtles, negating the purpose of de-polluting the river, while at the same time activities necessary for Ganga cleaning project can go on without any legal hindrance.