Ranchi: At a time when conservationists across the country are making a hue and cry over the depleting number of India's resident birds and unabated hunting of their migratory counterparts, Jharkhand's forest and wildlife department has dropped its annual water-bird census for lack of manpower and inter-departmental tussle.
The state's prime water bodies, including the Udhwa bird sanctuary, Tilaiya and Maithon reservoirs are witnessing a sharp decline of migratory birds every year. Bird lovers and ornithologists are proposing a robust management plan to conserve their natural habitats. Yet, after two years of consecutive survey, it was dropped this year due to inter department passing the buck game.
"In 2015, the census was conducted by the wildlife wing. In 2016, it was taken up by the state biodiversity board. This year, the biodiversity board was supposed to do it. But then the board was reconstituted and things got stuck up," Lal Ratnakar Singh, principal chief conservator of forests - wildlife (PCCF-WL) told TOI. The 2016 water-bird census put the total resident population across 25 reservoirs at 6,460.
However, sources in the department said that an independent organization based in Jharkhand was approached to conduct the survey. "The organization refused to take it up," a senior forester in the department said. The department then approached a Kolkata based bird-watcher to take up the study across 25 prime water bodies of the state. As a result, valuable time was lost between December and February, eventually sending the survey into cold storage. Only the Udhwa bird sanctuary witnessed a census this year.
The survey assumes significance for the fact that last year's census showed a decline in the arrival of migratory birds. The census also recorded a rise in the numbers of several endangered resident avian species (featuring in the International Union for Conservation of Nature-IUCN red list) such as black headed Ibis, Wooly necked stork and River Lapwing, triggering concerns of their conservation among local bird watchers.
"The growing numbers of endangered species send a positive sign that their habitat have improved. But the danger of hunting and smuggling persists because of the absence of a conservation plan. The department must work to protect the habitat in prime reservoirs like the Tilaiya and Maithon at the earliest," Koderma based bird watcher IndrajitSamanta said.
