T PROTECTED AREA UPDATE News and Information from protected areas in India and South Asia Vol. XXI, No. 5 October 2015 (No. 117) LIST OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL 3 Odisha 10 A small hole in the fence for the elephant Deficit rainfall may cause water shortage in Chandaka WLS NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES 13 arrested for fishing in the Bhitarkanika NP Assam 3 Rajasthan 10 Centre and Assam differ over number of personnel NTCA directs Rajasthan to bring back T-24 to the for rhino protection force wild Three get seven years rigorous imprisonment for Sikkim 11 poaching in Nameri NP, Concern over Red Panda habitat degradation in Rhino translocated to the Manas NP gives birth to Sikkim her second calf Tamil Nadu 11 Delhi 5 Madras High Court gives priority to restoration of Scientists to develop biodiversity parks in Delhi Shola forests Six new species of butterflies recorded in Delhi in Uttarakhand 12 the last decade NGT asks for clarifications over helicopter service New species of spider found in Asola Bhatti WLS impact on wildlife in Kedarnath WLS Karnataka 6 River rafting camps along the Ganga come under SC Central Empowered Committee says no to NGT scanner railway line cutting across the Western Ghats Human-leopard conflict on the rise in Pauri district Bandipur TR steps up vigil in the wake of Kerala West Bengal 13 elephant poaching case Railways reduce night trains running through PAs in Kerala 7 Assam, West Bengal Camera trap records leopard attack on Nilgiri tahr in Ivory worth Rs. 8 lakh seized in Jalpaiguri; three Eravikulam NP arrested Steep increase in human-wildlife conflict in Kerala Remove Sundarbans BR from purview of CRZ: State 32 elephant poachers arrested in Kerala govt. Madhya Pradesh 7 NBWL gives a go ahead to four-laning of NH-6 and NATIONAL NEWS 14 NH-7 within 10km boundaries of PAs Centre may conduct simultaneous elephant census in Bandhavgarh NP staff demands powers to shoot-at- West Bengal, northeastern states to avoid sight at villagers in conflict situations duplication Maharashtra 8 Nine out of 58 protected areas meet criteria for IUCN Wild water buffalo photographed in the Kolamarka Green List Conservation Reserve TSR Subramanian report rejected by the Expert panel ignores wildlife and biodiversity in Parliamentary Standing Committee Aarey Colony in Mumbai Trawl ban benefits benthic fauna Two new species of spider discovered in Mumbai SOUTH ASIA 16 Efforts on to get ‘World Heritage Site’ status for Bangladesh / India Bhitarkanika NP and Chilika Lake Bangladesh and India to co-operate on keeping Punjab elephant corridors open Forest department alleges illegal construction inside Bhutan Harike WLS 103 wild tigers in Bhutan Tamil Nadu Recovery of Curlew sandpiper at Point Calimere in INTERNATIONAL NEWS 17 July points to a possible shift in migratory pattern UN General Assembly passes resolution to tackle Uttar Pradesh illicit trafficking in wildlife Final notification for ESZ of Okhla Bird Sanctuary to be issued soon IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS UPDATE 19 Andhra Pradesh A DECADE AGO 22 State proposes to reduce size of Kolleru WLS Readers Respond 23 Himachal Pradesh Two month fishing ban in Pong Dam reservoir lifted PERSPECTIVE 24 Maharashtra Matheran - Forest on the head A booklet on ‘Birds of Thane Creek’ released Odisha Protected Area Update Vol. XXI, No. 5, October 2015 (No. 117) Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria Editorial Assistance: Reshma Jathar, Anuradha Arjunwadkar Illustrations: Shruti Kulkarni, Madhuvanti Anantharajan & Peeyush Sekhsaria Produced by The Documentation and Outreach Centre KALPAVRIKSH Apartment 5, Shri Dutta Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411004, Maharashtra, India. Tel/Fax: 020 – 25654239 Email: [email protected] Website: http://kalpavriksh.org/index.php/conservation-livelihoods1/protected-area-update Publication of the PA Update has been supported by Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) http://fes.org.in/ Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust, C/o FES World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - India Bombay Natural History Society/ Indian Bird Conservation Network Donations from a number of individual supporters Protected Area Update Vol. XXI, No. 5 2 October 2015 (No. 117) The relations between the two countries had EDITORIAL reached such a low that Bangladeshi authorities had threatened to shoot down the wild elephants that had crossed the border if India did not ‘take back’ her elephants. The security concern along A small hole in the that border has over the years, also led to erection of a barbed wire fencing, leading in turn to a fence for the elephant serious problem for the elephant and an escalation in human-elephant conflict in the region. This is the time of the year when the large parts of There is a news item in this issue of the South Asia are celebrating the festival venerating PA Update (News from South Asia, Pg. 16) that Ganesha, the fun loving elephant headed god with suggests, however, that all may not be lost yet. a little mouse as his companion and carrier. The There is space for hope in all the doom and the existence of an elephant headed god and a festival gloom and one such decision was made recently in celebrating him has been long portrayed as a a joint meeting of Indian and Bangladeshi marker of the love and respect for wildlife in the authorities. Small gaps are to be opened up in the sub-continent, the inherently tolerant ethic of the barbed wire that currently separates the two landscape and the deep rooted association that countries, but which elephants have kept people here have with wildlife and forests. connected for centuries. Corridors will be opened There is, however, a deeply unsettling up so that the elephants can move freely. We have and uglier side to the picture too – the intolerably to still see how this will be operationalized on the high levels of noise that citizens have to endure ground, but a better gift could not have been when the festival is on and the monstrous pollution offered to the elephant in the season of its that rivers, lakes and smaller water bodies suffer veneration and hopefully, more such sensible when idols of the god are immersed when the decisions will be taken across the length and festival comes to an end. There is also the deep breadth of this magnificent creature’s range irony that is pointed out poignantly by those throughout the sub-continent. involved in conservation and protection of the elephant in the wild. The animal that millions of people worship as god and which is also India’s National NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES Heritage animal continues to suffer a fate in the real world that is sad, unfair and even gruesome as they are poached regularly across their range, ASSAM killed month after month in horrific train accidents and continue to be electrocuted by sagging high Centre and Assam differ over number of voltage power lines even as habitat is being personnel for rhino protection force destroyed rapidly and traditional migratory patterns are being ruthlessly snapped by roads, The plan to raise an elite force for protection of railway lines, dam construction and industrial projects. rhinos in Assam with central funding is There is also the other, international experiencing problems following differences dimension; the large bodied animal that needs to between the Assam state government and the move constantly is perhaps the most affected by Centre over the number of personnel to be conflicts along country borders in South Asia. The recruited. The Centre wants to create a force PA Update has regularly reported on the fate of with 100 personnel while Assam wants to start elephants trying to cross the border between India the force with a strength of 1,000 individuals. and Nepal on the one side and India and Union minister of environment, forests Bangladesh on the other. There was a report and and climate change, Prakash Javadekar, had an edit many years ago (PA Update Vol. XIV, No. announced a fund for the formation of a special 4) that dealt with the problem being faced by rhino protection force in September last year. elephants crossing India’s border with Bangladesh. He had asked the state government to submit a Protected Area Update Vol. XXI, No. 5 3 October 2015 (No. 117) proposal in this regard. The proposal submitted Pogag, who had been evading arrest for by the Assam government asked for the years by shuttling between Sonitpur and recruitment of 1,000 youth, who were to be southern states like Karnataka and Kerala was, trained in modern techniques, provided proper in fact, on the most wanted list. The conviction infrastructure for high mobility on land and of the three came a week after the Darrang water, and be armed with sophisticated weapons sessions court also sentenced two poachers who and communications system. Rs. 250 crore had had attempted to kill a rhino at the Rajiv Gandhi been estimated for raising the force. However, Orang NP in 2011. The two at Orang were the Centre recently asked the State to start with convicted under the Wildlife (Protection) Act. recruiting 100 persons and did not give any Last year, a mother-son duo, Picholi assurance for expansion. Doley and her son Gautam, were also convicted Assam has said that a force of 100 by the Golaghat sessions court in connection people will not serve the purpose as the park with rhino poaching at the Kaziranga NP. The area is spread over 800 sq km over four districts, last time poachers were convicted for killing and the south and the north banks of the rhinos at Kaziranga was in 2008. Brahmaputra. The State has written to the Centre that it would go ahead with the plan only Source: Naresh Mitra, ‘Three Assam poachers get if the Centre agrees to recruit a 1000 personnel.