Satara lake now a bird sanctuary

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra forest department has notified 866.75 hectares (ha) of land in Satara as the Mayani Bird Conservation Reserve (CR), more than five months after the State Board for Wild Life (SBWL), chaired by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, had mooted a proposal for it. Though officially notified in the gazette on March 15, a copy of it was public only this week, which officials attributed to administrative delays caused by the ongoing second wave of Covid-19.

The CR is a hotspot for migratory birds, and giving it legal sanctity – under Section 36-A of the Wildlife Protection act (1972) – will specifically aid in conservation of species, including greater flamingo, lesser flamingo, black-tailed godwit, jacana and open billed stork and bar-headed geese, which frequent the water body in winter months.

CRS are protected areas that act like buffer zones and migration corridors between national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, reserved and protected forests. Unlike sanctuaries and national parks, CRS don’t have their own buffer zones. Any developmental or agricultural activity within a CR must have the approval of state and Central wildlife boards.

“We are going one step further than simply declaring the area as a reserved forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1921. The idea is to protect the biodiversity under the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, by declaring them as CRS. Any development projects proposed within the CRS will now need clearance under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the State Board for Wildlife and the National Board for Wildlife,” said Nitin Kakodkar, principal chief conservator of forests, Maharashtra.

The area comprising the Mayani Bird Conservation Reserve lies entirely within the Waduj forest range of the Satara forest division, which in turn falls under the forest department’s Kohlapur forest circle.

Experts were sceptical. “Legal processes under the WPA are extremely tedious, and require considerably investment in safeguarding the rights of locals and indigenous populations who co-exist with the biodiversity. By shying away from notification under the WPA, villagers may be deprived of their rights, including resettlement and ex-gratia packages from the state,” said Kishor Rithe, a non-government member of the SBWL.

THE AREA HAS YERALWADI, MAYANI LAKES AND IRRIGATION TANK IN YERALWADI