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Wetland home to about 200 endangered species sold in
Dadri
Greater Noida, January 20, 2012: The Union environment ministry has asked the UP government to probe the
alleged sale of parts of a wetland, home to about 200 endangered species, at Dadri in Greater Noida to a private realty firm. “We’re
probing to find out if parts of the wetland have been encroached upon,” sub
divisional magistrate (SDM) Gyanendra Singh told HT on Thursday. The SDM
said only the areas around the wetland, and not the wetland itself, had been sold.
Since construction activity has begun in the vicinity, environmentalists
fear movement, light and sound will scare away the birds, some of them
are on the list of ‘most protected’ under the Wildlife Protection Act,
at Bheel Akbarpur Lake. The builder, however, said it was building a green megapolis in
conformity with all relevant laws and the wetland would not be disturbed. The union
ministry has asked the UP forest department to conserve the wetland and take
appropriate action to stop construction activities.
The Supreme Court has said water bodies like wetlands have to be
protected. Birds such as pied cuckoo, sandpipers, sarus, blue throats,
spoonbills and even the rare bristled grassbird have visited the wetlands.
In November, experts of the Wildlife Trust of India and World Wildlife
Fund inspected the wetlands and “looked displeased” with construction
activities. “It appears private builders are projecting wetlands as lakes in their
townships,” said Singh. The wetlands have not been declared as a protected area by the UP government. Source: Hindustan Times
Chincholi forest now a wildlife sanctuary
GULBARGA , January 2, 2011: Chincholi forest of Gulbarga has got the tag ‘Chincholi
Wildlife Sanctuary’, becoming the first dry land wildlife sanctuary in
South India, with the state government notifying an area of 14,958.87
hectares of forest land in Chincholi taluk for it on November 28. With
this, the state has got 21 wildlife sanctuaries.
Deputy Conservator of Forest of Gulbarga Region Radhadevi on Thursday
received a letter written by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest
(Wildlife) on December 19 intimating about the government notification.
In the letter, the Principal Chief Conservator has asked the DCF to prepare a management plan for the sanctuary as per the
guidelines of the Indian Wildlife Association, New Delhi, and to submit it to him.
The notification declaring Chincholi Forest as a wildlife sanctuary
stated that the forest area had rich natural canopy cover. This is the
only area in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region that has similar features as
the Western Ghats. The notification said due to biotic and climatic interventions, there was a threat of degradation of rich natural forest.
The wildlife sanctuary covers the forest areas of 28 villages of Chincholi
taluk. The notification said Chincholi Wildlife Sanctuary would not include any
revenue villages, patta lands, revenue lands. Speaking to Express, Deputy Conservator of Forest Radhadevi said the 150
- 200 hectares in Sangapur village, over which Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were locked in a dispute, had not been included in the
sanctuary. The state forest officials had identified encroachments by
the AP. Efforts were on to hold discussions with the Andhra Pradesh
forest officials. Source: Indian Express news service |
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