The Centre has decided to establish a Gharial Protection Authority for taking care of the endangered gharials in Chambal river, which stretches through the boundaries of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It has also announced to establish a sanctuary for gharials, which would be spread over an area of 1,600 square kilometres.

The proposed sanctuary is aimed at protecting the species from extinction. MoS for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh made an announcement in this regard in Chennai on Monday.

The Centre has proposed the conservation of gharials through a three-State authority. The Ministry of Environment and Forest has approved the proposal and has allotted `8 crore for this project. According to officials figures of the MoEF, at present, there were only 200 breeding adult ghariyals and their total population in the wild would be around 1,400. The proposed sanctuary is expected to help stabilise the population.

The MoEF has declared another Chambal inhabitant dolphin the National Aquatic animal and plans to soon declare this unique fish as endangered marine species.

The Chambal sanctuary spread across three States had come into the limelight, after around 100 gharials had died after being affected by a mysterious toxic substance at the end of 2007 and start of 2008. Gharial casualties have been reported only on a 35-kilometre stretch before the confluence, and no casualties have been reported among any other freshwater species that share habitat with gharials.

National Chambal Sanctuary Superintendent SC Bhadauria on the issue claimed that a number of measures were taken after the mishap, which included increased monitoring, regular medical care to gharials by veterinary experts and constant vigil on aquatic contamination. "We have witnessed a sharp decline in gharial casualties ever since then," said Bhadauria.

However a total of 127 gharials have died in the Chambal river due to various reasons including poaching in 2007-10. The highest number of 78 gharial deaths was reported from Uttar Pradesh followed by 47 from Madhya Pradesh and two from Rajasthan.

Gharials often confused with crocodiles are characterised by long and thin snout and the ghara or pot on their head and eat only fish. Besides Chambal, gharials are found in isolated stretches of the Ken, Son, Girwa and Ganges rivers in India. They are one of the most threatened crocodile species and are classified as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union.