Birds flock to a wetland

Guwahati, April 23: More wetlands in Assam could find their way to the Ramsar site list with a survey pinpointing 24 inland wetlands as suitable for the international wetland status.

The Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (Sacon), which carried out the inland wetland survey throughout the country, found Donduwa, Dheer Beel and Dighali Beel, among others, in the state suitable for the tag.

Earlier, Deepor Beel was designated as a Ramsar site in November 2002. This permanent, freshwater lake is a major stormwater storage basin for Guwahati.

The ministry of environment and forests has sanctioned Rs 1.35 crore as the second instalment for desiltation of Deepor Beel to expedite its development.

Of the Rs 1.35 crore, Rs 1 crore has already been released. ?We will start work soon and will be able to proceed without any hindrance till the monsoon sets in,? an official said.

The official said a total area of 2.3 hectares would be desilted this year. ?We had desilted 2.4 hectares last year though the target was 1.5 hectares,? he added.

Assam co-ordinator for the survey, P.C. Bhattacharjee, said the new findings ?will help us obtain identification of more sites as Ramsar sites?.

He said Assam has a large number of wetlands, but it never had authentic documents to prove its immense wealth.

This survey is the first such document. Assam has got nearly 3,000 big and small wetlands, spread over 11 lakh hectares.

Bhattacharjee also stressed the need for proper maintenance of the beels. He said a single authority should be responsible for the development of Deepor Beel. The beel, endowed with rich flora and fauna, is suffering an imbalance in its ecosystem because of industrialisation and human settlement.