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| Wetland shrinking due to encroachment…..! | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 10: The Gharana wetland in Rajinder Singh Pura has fallen to the apathy of land encroachers as the wetland has been reduced to the half of its original size and it is dying a slow death.
For past many years the wetland is coming up as a major tourist destination Jammu where tourists can easily come back in one day.
"On official records, this wetland is spread on an area of 0.75 sq km, but encroachment by the local farmers have reduced this wetland to less than half the size that it used to be a couple of years ago," says a wildlife department employee.
Gharana hosts around 20,000 migratory birds coming from different countries every year, but wildlife experts warn that the number of winged visitors is slowly declining. This year it when tourists started to turn towards the wetland. It was found that birds have left it the reason best known to officials.
But few officials believe that government is not looking towards the wetland and if it continues, we will lose the important place which could have become major tourist destination so close to winter capital.
Environmentalists, too, warn that wetlands in the state are rapidly shrinking due to official apathy and rampant encroachment, endangering thousands of animals and migratory birds.
The state boasts of 16 wetlands, with seven of them being in Jammu. Experts predict that these will vanish in around three to four years, if the authorities continue to neglect them.
A senior wildlife officer admits that there has been a widespread encroachment in the Gharana Wetland Reserve and the government is taking steps to retrieve encroached land from the locals.
"The locals have encroached upon a large part of the wetland. We have taken steps to retrieve it. The Jammu divisional commissioner and the SDM of the area are demarcating the encroached land and we will soon reclaim it," the officer said.
According to wildlife experts, shrinking wetlands have also affected the behaviour of water birds. The number of birds, who used to throng this wetland in the past, has gone down because of shallow water.
Officials said the local residents who mostly depend on farming have turned the wetland into a disposal ground where they dump all their agricultural waste, which in turn is silting the wetland. |
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