Chilika Lake. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 14: Orissa government’s exclusive obsession with Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish water lake, has practically sealed the fate of comparatively smaller wetlands which play an equally important role in preserving the state’s rich biodiversity.

The plight of Ansupa, a freshwater lake on the banks of Mahanadi in Cuttack district, demonstrates how the government’s skewed priorities have become a stumbling block to the revival of a water body that once attracted large flocks of migratory birds and tourists in hordes.

As it is, the government woke up quite late to death threat faced by Ansupa, progressively dehydrated and choked by weeds. Then experts struggled to come up with a plan for its revival. Currently, the execution of the plan seems to be moving at a snail’s pace. In fact, there is not much information available on what is actually happening on the ground in the lake area.

Government sources said that some of the experts had suggested detailed hydrological monitoring of the lake to evolve a watershed model. Suggestions were also made to ensure sustainability of the wetland system by maintaining water quality and updating its biological inventory.

However, Ansupa is still far from being revived. Citing its example, sources in the government said that an overwhelmingly large number of wetlands in the state were languishing for want of attention. “The focus is so much on Chilika that others have almost ceased to exist for the policy makers,” said an official.

A land of bewildering biodiversity, Orissa is home to 78,440 wetlands, big and small. The majority, which is 66,174 to be precise, fall in the small in category, that is wetlands with an area of 2.25 hectares or less. The total coverage of wetlands is 6,90,904 hectares, which is a big area even by a conservative estimate.

Sources said that since wetlands played a major role in maintaining the carrying capacity of the ecosystems it had become imperative for the government not only to save them from extinction but also improve their quality.

“There are many small wetlands which serve as the breeding ground of native aquatic life and also play host to migratory birds during the winter. By neglecting them, we will be digging our own grave,” said an official, adding that while Chilika ought to be conserved by all means the government should not forget that the smaller wetlands, too, have an important role to play.