Rajahmundry: Environmentalists are taking up a nation-wide campaign against Draft Wetland Rules 2016 issued by the Centre recently, on the grounds that the rules will jeopardise the very existence of noted wetlands like Kolleru sanctuary, Pulikat lake and others in the state.
The newly released Draft Wetland Rules have brought wetlands under the purview of the states and it is the responsibility of the states to take steps to conserve and protect them. The Greens say that Kolleru Lake, located in parts of West Godavari and Krishna districts, is already on the verge of extinction as the bird sanctuary is being encroached upon to dig up fish tanks for pisciculture. The lake bed is also shrinking due to encroachments. They have been fighting with the Centre to protect the lake and the sanctuary for a long time.
With the issue of new rules, the lake will fall under the jurisdiction of the state government. As the state government has already proposed to reduce the sanctuary limit from the plus five contour to plus three contour limits, there is no need now for approval by the National Board for Wildlife where the Prime Minister serves as chairman. Environmentalists fear that once the sanctuary area is downsized, the excess land will be given away to local villagers who in turn will lease them out for commercial pisciculture.
Both the sanctuary and the lake will lose their sanctity and several water bodies located around the lake will get polluted. The Greens appreciated the Congress-led UPA-II which imposed stringent norms to protect the wetlands by issuing Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2010. Though the rules are good, the Centre failed to implement them in toto. They say that the Central Empowered Committee which used to take care of protection and conservation of wetlands has been made defunct with the new draft rules and the National Board for Wildlife is constituted with hand-picked men making it less powerful.
The Union Ministry of Forests and Environment will remain mute spectator as the wetlands have been shifted to the responsibility of concerned state governments. Famous environmentalist Dr T. Patanjali Sastri said, “The Draft Wetland Rules, 2016 are utterly useless and in the next 25 years, every single wetland in the state will become extinct. We will take up the issue with National Green Tribunal and Supreme Court to nullify the rules and protect and conserve wetlands in the entire country.”
