Water sports pose fresh threat to Haiderpur Wetland

MEERUT

First it was illegal encroachments and cultivation by farmers. Now it is water sports that is posing a threat to the Haiderpur Wetland.

The Bijnor district administration organised a trial of canoeing, kayaking and rowing events, upstream from the wetland, on Sunday, as it explored the possibilities of organising water sports in the area in the future as a way to attract tourists.

The forest department has however raised objections to an activity in the wetland’s core area.

Haiderpur Wetland is situated on the border of district Muzaffarnagar and Bijnor and it was declared a Ramsar site last year . It attracts tens of thousands of birds, including many migratory species, which arrive and stay here between October and February .

A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as ‘The Convention on Wetlands’, an intergovernmental environmental treatyestablished on February 2, 1971, in Ramsar, Iran by UNESCO, which came into force from December 21, 1975.

Kanhaiya Patel, divisional forest officer (DFO), Muzaffarnagar, stated that he raised objections on starting water sports in the core area of the wetlands.

“The district administration needs to seek permission from departments concerned before starting such activities because it could have an adverse impact on birds and the wetland,” said Patel, whose views were seconded by his Bijnor counterpart, Arun Kumar.

Patel said that such activities could be planned during the period when migratory birds go back to their breeding grounds. “But it can be done only after seeking permissions from NGT, and the forest and other departments.”

Umesh Mishra, district magistrate, Bijnor, explained that the site for water sports would be finally selected after seeking the opinion and permission of different departments including the forest department.

He added that another site for water sports has been identified at Pili Dam near Amangarh Tiger Reserve ( on the Uttarakhand border) and that a three-day inter-state competition of water sports would be organised there from May 8.

Purna Bora, chief development officer, Bijnor, said that the district has immense potential for water sports, which could attract tourists.

Ashish Loya, an environment enthusiast and regular visitor to Haiderpur Wetlands said nothing should be done at the cost of the environment. Wetland rules prohibit activities which alter a site’s ecological character, he pointed out, adding that water sports could disturb the habitat of migratory birds and nesting areas of resident birds.

Both upstream and downstream areas of the barrage are ecologically sensitive areas and should not be disturbed at all by any kind of activity, he said.

Loya also said that Haiderpur is already facing tremendous challenges from illegal fishing and farming .

The forest department and district administration of Muzaffarnagar and Bijnor districts launched a special drive to uproot the wheat crop sown illegally on a large area of the wetland . This was done after the farmers convinced the irrigation department to drain almost all the water in the wetland in the second week of January without consulting the forest department.

HT had raised the issue and the ministry of environment had directed the UP government to remove encroachments and not to drain any more water. By then though, tens of thousands of birds had left, making this migratory season among the poorest in a wetland otherwise considered among the finest in northern India.