Scorching salt

AGNIMIRH BASU

Ropeway threat to Girnar’s vultures

SIXTY-NINE vultures and 22 vulture nests are left in Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Junagadh district of Gujarat, revealed a state-wide census of vultures in the last week of May.

In court

State's prerogative: A division bench of the Bombay High Court on October 22 observed that the state government has the power to change a green zone into an industrial area. The court was hearing a PIL filed by Shetkari Sangarsh Samiti, a farmers' organization based in Shahpur in Maharashtra's Raigad district. The farmers had opposed land acquisition by the state government for the Maharashtra Energy Generation Ltd--a subsidiary of Reliance Energy--that proposes to build a 4,000 mw natural gas and coal-based plant

Gir Sanctuary & Gir National Park

Click here to Enlarge View The only home of the Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica), the protected area at Gir, Gujarat, spreads over 1,421 sq km. Of this, 258.7 sq

Many want out

A lion-tolerating people, too, are changing Maldharis are former nomads who rear cattle for their livelihood. They are now settled inside and on the outskirts of Gir protected area in small colonies called nesses. At present there are 54 nesses inside the sanctuary. They are still very lion-tolerant. "The lions have always been here, people came later. Our ancestors knew they will have to live with the lions when they first colonized the jungles; we know how to live with them,"

So far

1910: Over a dozen--some say about 100--lions come under the protection of the Nawab of Junagarh in Saurashtra, who bans lion hunting 1956: Indian Board for Wildlife accepts a proposal to relocate Gir lions to an alternative habitat 1957: A lion and two lionesses introduced to Chakia forest (later, Chandraprabha wildlife sanctuary) in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Number increases to 11 by 1965; subsequently, all lions here disappear

Misplaced pride

Successful programme to conserve lions is beginning to implode on itself The Asiatic lion is quite vulnerable. "The Gir population is insecure for two reasons," says A J T Johnsingh, a wildlife expert with the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore. Firstly, "the population has risen from a very low number leading to inbreeding and a genetically homozygous population. Reduced genetic diversity affects reproductive health of the species and increases mortality of the young".

Native wisdom

"Engineers like me can't help marvel at the Agaria's skills," says Vinay Mahajan of the Ahmedabad-based independent research institute Sandarbh Development Studies. Mahajan has co-authored a paper, Yet to be freed, on the lives of Agarias.

Effluents from Tata

At the Tata plant in Mithapur, effluent is taken to huge mud trenches, effluent-settlement ponds, which cover about 243 ha. The liquid is supposed to go to the sea from here after suspended solids in it settle down. According to the Consent to Operate given to the company in 2004, ponds marked S,T,U, V,W,X were in use, implying 18 ponds--A to R--have already been filled up with solids. Effluent discharged into the ponds was seen to emit thick vapour while the dried up ponds had huge biscuit-like chunks to its brim. GPCBand the company say this method is universally acceptable.

Duplicity

While the Agarias wage a constant struggle with the forest department, the government has allegedly turned a blind eye to pollution by two soda ash-making units run by major industrial groups. At Mithapur in Jamnagar district's Okha taluka there are charges of pollution against a salt-and-soda ash unit run by Tata Chemicals Limited (tcl).