Thanks to good rain, boating to resume at Keoladeo after a year
WATER CRISIS Lakes in the park had dried up due to lack of rain, affecting breeding of birds KNP LAKES GET WATER FROM THE PANCHNA DAM IN KARAULI AROUND JULY 2016, MAKING BOATING POSSIBLE. IN 2017, THE LAKES REMAINED DRY. BHARATPUR:
Boating at Bharatpur’s Keoladeo National Park (KNP) will resume after a gap of a year, thanks to good rains and flow of water from other sources.
The park — a paradise for bird lovers — has four boats. Thousands of migratory birds from Europe, Siberia, China and Asia visit the park for nesting every winter. KNP lakes get water from the Panchna Dam in Karauli around July 2016, making boating possible. In 2017, the lakes remained dry.
The park has been facing a drought due to lack of good rains, making breeding difficult for local birds.
In 2011, a decision to release 550 MCFT (million cubic feet) water from the Chambal drinking project was taken but it was never implemented.
“The park gets 239 MCFT water from the drinking project and 10-15 MCFT from the Govardhan drain every day. This, until last month, seemed enough to start boating when migratory birds begin arriving here,” said park director Ajit Uchoi.
Every year, around 2,000 painted storks come here to breed. They need fish to feed. A painted stork gives birth to between two and four chicks and each chick needs 500 gram of fish every day, the director added.
Local birds such as open bill stork, cormorant, snake bird, egret, painted stork, spoonbill, grey heron, purple heron, cattle egret, large egret and medium egret come to the park to breed before the monsoon.
Birds need fish, vegetation from the water and trees for nesting, the park official said. Babool trees are located near the lakes where snakes can’t climb, making the chicks safe.
According to data, 25,417 foreign tourists visited the park between April 2016 and March 2017 and 8,418 foreign tourists came to KNP from April 2017 to October 2017.
KNP was established as a National park on March 10, 1982, and declared a World Heritage Site under the World Heritage Convention in 1985. Park was enrolled in a danger zone by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2008 after the park began facing a shortage of water.