New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court on March 19, 2002 stopped the draining of five wetlands crucial for the survival of the world’s largest concentration of the endangered Sarus cranes. These five wetlands in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which are home to over 33 per cent of the global Sarus crane population, were being drained under a World Bank funded wasteland reclamation project. There are only about 9,000 Sarus cranes left in the world.

Delivering the final order on the PIL filed by the Wildlife Trust of India, the division bench of Chief Justice S K Sen and Justice R K Agrawal, directed that “further conversion of land and extension of canals be stopped.” The judges also held the chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh, Dr R.L. Singh, who was present in the court, to be personally responsible for protecting the Sarus and its habitat in the districts of Etawah and Mainpuri. The order said: “All measures to be

taken by the chief wildlife warden present here for conserving and protecting the Sarus and its habitat.” The judges gave the state government one month to do the needful.

“This is a major victory for the conservation fraternity,” Aniruddha Mookerjee, Director Programmes, who filed the case said, “the wetlands were being drained with impunity. Even the district magistrate’s orders were being flouted. We are glad that the court understood our point of view and paved the way for these wetlands to be declared sanctuaries for the state bird of Uttar Pradesh.”

“The Allahabad High court has shown the way to quick justice,” WTI counsel Sudhir Mishra, who specializes in wildlife matters, said. “This is one of the quickest judgements pronounced on a PIL by any court in the country,” he said.

Mr Mookerjee, had expressed concern in his petition that the situation in these two districts was grim, as work on the wetland conversion projects was in full swing and canals, which in some areas were nearly 20 feet wide, were rapidly draining the wetlands.

The five wetlands in Etawah and Mainpuri, districts namely: Sarsai Nawar, Garh, Sauj, Ambarpur and Kodaiya support more than 3000 Sarus cranes, which is more than one third of the global population. The Wasteland Development Board of the government of Uttar Pradesh had declared these as saline wastelands and was draining them for conversion for other uses. The petition followed the published findings of a two and half year research project done by K.S. Gopisunder of the Wildlife Institute of India working on a national management plan for the

protection of Sarus.

The petition pointed out that the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWC) of Uttar Pradesh had visited these sites in Etawah and Mainpuri. After assessing the ground situation, the CWC wrote to the administration and the Districts Magistrates who immediately issued orders against drainage.

The respective District Magistrates of Mainpuri and Etawah also stopped the issuance of pattas(ownership papers) in these wetlands on the grounds that they are important Sarus habitat, despite which the work was carrying on.

It was also pointed out that the construction of a culvert at Kudaiyya in Mainpuri has resulted in the draining of one of the wetlands and has resulted in the decline of the resident Sarus population from over 200 to 22 only.

Mr. Mookerjee said in the petition that any further draining of water from the wetland will render the flocks homeless and force them to look for roosting sites in the nearby crop field where they can wreak havoc, leading to conflict situations that have historically never existed between man and this revered bird. “Since this is the only known site of its size and quality in the country, it is beyond doubt that it is irreplaceable and we can not develop any alternative site,” Mr.

Mookerjee said in the petition.

The most important habitat is Sarsai Nawar, which is in Etawah district and has the largest population of this threatened species of Sarus Crane. Ten Sarus Crane pairs breed regularly in this wetland which is more than twice the number of breeding pairs in Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

in Rajasthan the best known for bird in the country. In winters, more than 40,000 migratory birds use Sarsai Nawar wetland.

The second major wetland is Gaad, in Mainpuri. This wetland has a yearlong congregation of over 300 Sarus Cranes that feed on specific tubers of aquatic plants that abound in these wetlands. The third crucial wetland is Sauj Lake, also in Mainpuri, home to 4,000 Great

white pelicans in winter. The last crucial wetlands are Ambarpur, which has nearly 450 Sarus Cranes, and Kudaiyya.

The petition had sought that these five crucial wetlands be declared as `protected’ as per the definition of the Wildlife Protection Act.1972.It was also pointed out to the court that sensing the alarming situation, the Bombay Natural History Society (BHNS) Director, Mr. Asad R. Rahmani, had written letters to the Chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Raj Nath Singh and to the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, requested them to conserve the wetlands in these two districts.

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests has estimated that India has about 4.1 million hectares of wetlands (excluding paddy fields and mangroves) of which 1.5 million hectares are natural and 2.6 million hectares man-made,” Mr Mookerjee said in the petition.