People's Democracy

KEOLADEO NATIONAL PARK

Where Do We Go From Here?

Ananda Banerjee

A CHIEF minister who descends from royal heritage cannot protect a world heritage site and refuses even to do something about its restoration. The world famous bird sanctuary, Keoladeo National Park, UNESCO world heritage site and a heaven for birdwatchers across the world lies devoid of water. It has been completely taken over by feral cattle.  Here tourists now see more cattle than birds. Only 10 per cent of the migratory birds have turned up this year in this famous wetland.

A mix of bad weather and political gamesmanship has left the park, its winged guests and Bharatpur residents with little to cheer for, despite a decent spell of rains this year. Noted naturalist and author Bikram Grewal fears that the park may be in danger of losing the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag it sports currently. The fate of the town and park are closely intertwined.

The survival of the park depends on water being released in the month of July from the Panchana Dam, according to local naturalists. The Karauli BJP MLA Kirorilal Meena supported a farmer’s agitation after Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje passed an order to release the water from the dam in 2003. Ironically he now says that he supports the release of water to Bharatpur and calls himself the CM’s representative for negotiations with Karauli farmers.

Bharatpur’s BJP MP Vishwendra Singh rubbishes Meena’s claims saying that the MLA went on record threatening to resign if water was released from the dam. The sad part, according to Bharatpur MLA Vijay Bansal, is that there is more water in the dam now then ever before.

Vishwendra Singh has not raised the issue in parliament as it is not "big enough yet." He says the matter is before the courts and it would not be proper to do so. Singh has not attended parliament in a while because he says he has been unwell.

Hotel owner Ranveer Singh says that tourism and agriculture are the two major industries left in this area. "The old factories are gone, and if the birds go, then so does tourism." MP Vishwendra Singh agrees that if tourism disappears then the Bharatpur economy will become completely dependent on agriculture.

Van Surakasha Samiti president Shyam Singh Gujjar says that farmers in the area are suffering as well,  "The water table in this entire region goes up when there is water in the park. But with no water being released things can only get worse for the 30 villages that surround this park."

PROJECT TIGER

This is not the end of the story. Unfortunately for the politicians in power the same state is also home to, two of the famous tiger reserves in the country, Sariska and Ranthambhore, and which also falls under the successful conservation project of the country ‘Project Tiger’.

Tiger (specifically the Royal Bengal Tiger; panthera tigris tigris; belongs to our sub-continent only) is our national animal, and is already in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list of threatened species.

After news broke that no sightings have taken place over six months a World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India expert team on invitation by the Vasundhara Raje government has found ‘‘not a single sign of evidence – direct or indirect – to indicate the presence of tiger’’ in Rajasthan’s Sariska reserve. No one has a definite answer in this mysterious disappearance act by the tigers, only assumptions galore amongst officials and experts, the most common reason sighted being wide scale poaching.

On a visit to the sanctuary, one does not have to be an expert or a naturalist to figure out the problems ailing it. A national highway cuts across through the tiger reserve, add on to this on Tuesdays and Saturdays hundreds of pilgrims congregate on a temple in the core area, resulting in widespread disturbances to the natural habitat. It also presents an easy opportunity and a getaway for poachers to blend in.

The government had sanctioned money to build an alternative route to the temple, but though the road has been built, it remains inoperative due to the vested interest of the local politicians and local shop owner nexus.

Add to this forest guards remain poorly trained, poorly equipped and in poor health (some quite old) and are unable to deal with poachers, woodcutters and also cattle grazers. The forest department also is understaffed and vacancies have not been filled up for many years.

Sariska is the biggest failure in Tiger Conservation, and following its footsteps is Ranthambhore, one of the best places in the entire world to sight this elusive big cat. The reasons are very similar, with no strong management in place and gross misuse of funds, wood cutting, mining, grazing, poaching and encroachment are rampant. With hardly any patrolling it has become an easy target for the wildlife mafia to home in.  

The crisis in wildlife management that the nation faces today is a result of long negligence of the government administrative machinery. Environment and conservation of flora and fauna have always been the least priority of successive governments. It has never had any significant importance for the ruling party. Moreover, infighting and bitterness between NGOs and foresters has not helped the cause further.