Sanctuary saga

THE Gujarat legislature passed a billin July 1995, reducing the area of theNarayan Sarovar Sanctuary in Kutch,Gujarat, to 444.23 sq krn from the earlier notified 765.79 sq km. NarayanSarovar, famous for chinkaras, hasbecome the battle ground for developmentalists and conservationists over thelast few years, since rich lignite andlimestone deposits were found within the sanctuary.

Recent findings from independentinvestigations carried out by P MBhargava, a senior scientist with theIndian Institute of ChemicalTechnology, Hyderabad, and hiscolleague Chandana Chakrabarti, alsosupport the government's steps forreducing the sanctuary boundary.They surveyed the sanctuary from June 27 to 28.

Their report states that largetracts of forest land marked as sanctuary, was actually degraded with veryfew trees and no scrub vegetationeither. The report concludes that "thereseemed to be nothing unusual aboutthe flora in the sanctuary area thatwould make it distinctive enoughand justify a sanctuary on the basis ofits flora." Bhargava and Chakrabartipoint out that villagers dwelling inside'- ---- -a, Ila- PQtimnted thenumber of chinkaras to a maximum ofaround 100 at present. And thereare only 2 streams in the sanctuary serving as water sources for the animals. The soil of the sanctuary area is not conducive to high agricultural yields. Thevillagers also face severe fuel and waterscarcity. Hence, the report conclude,that the initial declaration of the Sanctary area was done without proper investigations, and that its boundary shouldbe reduced keeping out the parts rich inmineral resources. It proposes that thesanctuary area be fenced off and adequate food and water sources be mad,available to the animals.

Interestingly, the report lays downcertain protocols for setting up of aryindustry in the sanctuary area, based ondialogues between the villagers and theinvestigators. Among several suggetions, the protocols envisage employment with fair wages; provisions , electricity, water and education, head and medical care; sustainable partnership with the local people and con Cfor the environment.

At present, the poor villagersnot have any stake in the management of the sanctuary. It is possiblethey might welcome limestone lignite mining in the area in hope employment.