PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia No. 54 April 2005 LIST OF CONTENTS NGO criticises package for village relocation from EDITORIAL 2 Kudremukh NP NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Proposal to renew mining in Bhadra WLS Andhra Pradesh 3 Kerala 12 Rs. Eight crore blackbuck relocation project from TDB asks for 500 acres of land in Periyar TR for Rollapadu, adjoining areas, to go to private Sabarimala pilgrim centre contractors Madhya Pradesh 12 Assam 3 Conservation reserve proposed for Bhopal’s Upper Friends of Kaziranga Forum formed Lake Poachers attack forest guards in Pobitora CEC report on Bandavgarh Cattle vaccination camp at Pobitora State wildlife census held in January First Manas Biosphere Celebration Fauna of Pench National Park BTC to celebrate Manas centenary Manipur 14 Community based eco-tourism project in Manas Six underground camps destroyed inside Keibul Community participation and initiatives for Lamjao NP Golden Langur conservation in Shankarghola Orissa 14 Gujarat 6 Proposal to increase area of Mahanadi Elephant Six new ‘Wetlands of National Importance’ Reserve Himachal Pradesh 6 Dolphin deaths in Chilka on the rise Himachal plans ‘butterfly gardens’ Poor health condition of forest staff at Bhitarkanika Jammu & Kashmir 7 Police support for protection of olive ridley turtles Migratory birds throng Gharana Wetland Reserve NGOs oppose proposal to declare sanctuaries at Karnataka 7 Devi and Rushikulya Conservationists oppose KIOCL request for Nearly ten lakh migratory birds visit Chilka mining lease extension Rajasthan 17 Efforts to reduce pressure on Bandipur NP SC orders release of water in Keoladeo NP Fires affect Bandipur State government special committee seeks Poachers arrested in Cauvery WLS emergency status for Ranthambhore Confusion regarding scheme for buy back of land Tamil Nadu 18 from villagers in Shettihalli WLS Call to declare Tamil Nadu wetlands as bird Elephant depredation; compensation claims sanctuaries increase around Nagarhole NP, Brahmagiri & Uttaranchal 18 Pushpagiri WLS Elephant rampage in Rajaji continues Over 100 elephants dead in 13 years in and West Bengal 19 around Nagarhole NP Demand for elephant squad adjoining Jaldapara Fires inside Bannerghatta NP North Bengal wild elephant census in April Ulvi festival inside Dandeli WLS; plea to not Lights to scare elephants damage the forests NATIONAL NEWS FROM INDIA 20 they were alive, and when it should have Meeting of the National Board for Wildlife mattered, few bothered. All the bothering now, Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize for Arjan all the headlines…does it matter anymore? Singh It could, and if one looks around a bit Project Tiger annual meeting at Bandipur there is the sinking realization that the tiger is SOUTH ASIA 21 Bhutan not alone. The elephants, the turtles, the Bhutan to establish forestry studies institute dolphins, the forests and wetlands; the Sri Lanka fundamental systems, the very mechanisms that Lunugamvehera National Park opened to public create and support life, are all under Wildlife Rangers to be on par with armed forces, unprecedented threat. police Many of the 100 odd elephant deaths UPCOMING 22 reported in and around the forests of the th 9 International Wildlife Law Conference Nagarhole NP (see report below) in the last 10 OPPORTUNITIES 22 years have been ascribed to unnatural reasons Opportunities with ATREE including poaching and electrocution. In Samrakshan seeks people in Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan, one of the worlds’ best known The Chilka Statement wetlands and bird habitats is left thirsting for IN THE Supreme Court 25 water. In Orissa, nearly 65 Irrawady Dolphins have been killed by boat propellers in Chilka Lake in only the last four years, and thousands EDITORIAL of olive ridley turtles continuing to be washed ashore, dead, on the coastline there. A recent report of the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) The crisis of the tiger, the elephant, the has painted an equally grim picture of the turtle, the dolphin, the wetland, the … wetlands of the country. Almost all the wetlands they studied in 14 states are polluted Just as we go to press, newspaper reports tell and all 1249 specimens of fish drawn from 115 us that the Central Bureau of Investigation water bodies either had pesticides or heavy has confirmed that Sariska Tiger Reserve has metals. In Mumbai, Ratan Tata, Chairman, no more tigers. Other reports also tell us that Tata Sons, joins corporate captains in signing action has been taken. Eight officers, support to wildlife conservation only a few including senior ones like the Chief Wildlife days after signing the death warrant of Orissa’s Warden of the state have been placed under olive ridley turtles through the Dhamra port. suspension and security and patrolling are Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries also being intensified; just what the doctor signs the same pledge and at the same time ordered. The door we are being told, is now, receives an order from the Dahanu Taluka tightly bolted. The birds may have flown, the Environment Protection Authority to furnish a tigers no longer prowl, and the poachers have Rs. 300 crore guarantee to prevent pollution already moved elsewhere, but no problem – from its power plant. And the National Board the door has been bolted. for Wildlife, the country’s apex body, meets a The last few weeks have seen an full 17 months after its last meeting! unexpected glut of tiger reports in our media, Something seems amiss somewhere! reports on the crisis of the tiger – Sariska, A tiger reserve without tigers, an Ranthambhore, Panna, Bandavgarh and unique wetland with neither water nor birds, many believe this might be only the tip of the and beaches that nesting turtles might be forced iceberg. The media responds to glamour and to abandon. to crisis; and when the two come together The door it seems, has indeed been bolted! like in Sariska we have the headlines. When Protected Area Update 54 2 April 2005 ASSAM NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Friends of Kaziranga Forum formed ANDHRA PRADESH A large number of well known people from India and abroad have come together to form Rs. Eight crore blackbuck relocation the Friends of Kaziranga Forum to ensure project from Rollapadu, adjoining areas, preservation and promotion of this well known to go to private contractors habitat of the one horned rhino. The Forum was formed on the concluding day of the The State Government’s Rs. Eight crore Kaziranga Centenary Celebration on February ‘Operation Blackbuck’, meant to capture 17, and presently has 149 people on it. blackbuck from the Rollapadu Wildlife Members of the forum include Sanctuary and other areas in Adoni (see PA prominent Indian businessmen like Mukesh Update 53) is to be handed over to private Ambani, Adi Godrej and Peter Mukherjea, contractors for its execution. Maharani Gayatridevi, Don Brown of the US Lobbying by the contractors to get Embassy, Richard H Emsile, African rhino the project, particularly for the transportation specialist, and VB Mathur of Wildlife Institute of the animals to a deer park in of India, Dehradun Nagarjunsagar, reportedly resulted in the The Forum resolved to maintain and state government stopping the release of Rs. enhance the ecological integrity of the existing Two crores for the forest department as part protected area network of the north-eastern payment to complete the task. The DFO of region of the country, as well as draw national the area was also recently transferred, inspite and international attention to the inextricable of expert suggestions that officers involved link between the preservation and ecological in the project should not be transferred. viability of Kaziranga. It had been earlier reported that Experts on the rhino and bio-diversity experts and officials were not sure whether resolved to ensure exchange of traditional and more blackbuck could be moved to the scientific knowledge and technological Nagarjunsagar Srisailam TR, as one such innovations for conservation and sustainable transfer of about 140 blackbuck had already development of Kaziranga. The resolution also taken place in 2004 (see PA Update 53). promised to mobilize support for seeking an The decision for this translocation alternative route to the proposed express project has been taken following an appeal highway by expansion of the existing National made to the Chief Minister of the state by Highway-37 passing across Kaziranga, to farmers in the region to save their crops. ensure safe movement of wildlife here. Additionally, the members have Source: ‘Contractors eye black buck project’, planned necessary steps to support creation of a Deccan Chronicle , 25/02/05. data bank on the bio-diversity and ecological parameters of Kaziranga and apply this Contact: CWLW, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, knowledge for stepping up vigil and awareness Aranya Bhavan, Saifabad, Hyderabad - on environmental impacts of economic 500004, Andhra Pradesh. Tel: 040- development projects in the region. 23230561 / 23232668. Fax: 337889 Source: ‘ Friends of Kaziranga Forum formed’, The Sentinel , 28/02/05. Contact : Director , Kaziranga NP, PO Bokakhat, Dist. Golaghat – 785612, Assam. Protected Area Update 54 3 April 2005 Poachers attack forest guards in Pobitora Cattle vaccination camp at Pobitora In an incident that occurred on February 21, The NGO, several frontline forest personnel of the Early Birds Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary were brutally recently attacked by miscreants who were fishing conducted a within the boundaries of the sanctuary. Three day long cattle of the forest personnel were seriously injured vaccination and were admitted to the Guwahati Medical camp around College Hospital. Pobitora wild The incident took place in the middle life sanctuary. The camp was conducted in the of the night, when the lightly-armed forest first week of February and was the 17 th such personnel tried to check the intruders from camp held here by the NGO. fishing in Hadut beel, well known as a The beneficiaries were from the Bura habitat for fish and avifauna.