Tourists are thronging the Chambal sanctuary to take a look at the newly-born 1,500 baby gharials, writes Vivek Trivedi

The locals of Chambal region these days are thronging the Katannipura-Barolighat area of the Chambal river flowing through Veerpur Tehsil of Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh to witness the springing plays of newly born gharial babies, around 1.500 in number.

The newly developed gharial-breeding centre at this ghat continues to be a centre of attraction with the birth of nearly 1,500 baby gharials in the last one fortnight. The local villagers continue to visit the ghat to watch the interesting playful activities of these newly born baby gharials.

The baby boom which has enlivened the Chambal river sanctuary, spread across the boundaries of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh could be termed significant, as the sanctuary that boasted close to 1,500 gharials only a decade ago had been reduced to a mere 200 adult gharials.

Fencing has been erected on the bank of the Chambal river for safe movement of the newly born baby gharials in this project developed in the Raghunathpur area. The locals including the children are deriving immense pleasure from the scene of baby gharials jumping into the river water from the fencing. At this new gharial breeding centre shifted recently from Devari of Morena to Katannipura-Barolighat, Chambal, as many as 46 female gharials have given birth to 1,500 baby gharials during the period between May 17 and May 30, 2011.

Probably, it is for the first time when Sheopur district has made such major achievement of gharial rearing. The female gharials had laid 52 eggs in the sand at 46 places in an area of nearly 2 km at Katannipura ghat in Chambal region between March 14 and March 27. After a gap of 60-65 days, baby gharials came out from the eggs.

The entire staff of the gharial project including ranger RK Sharma and Forest Guard Jagdish Batham are giving top priority to taking care of these newly-born baby gharials. The gharial is regarded as a very simple and harmless water animal of crocodile species. Gharial catches fish for its food needs. Forest guard Jagdish Batham says that in his lifetime he has never heard of any incident about the attack of gharial on human being or other animal.

However the situation was never the same like it is at present at Chambal sanctuary. The gharial population in this river had suffered a jolt in three months starting from December 2007 to February 2008, as more than 100 gharials had perished after being affected by an unknown 'toxin'. Mass deaths of gharials was reported for the first time from Barchauli village in Etawah range of the sanctuary on December 8, 2007.

Different authorities had made best efforts to ascertain the reasons behind these mysterious deaths but nothing concrete could be established. The special crisis management team formed for unraveling the reasons of unexplained deaths, though it failed to figure out the origin, nature and spread of the toxin although it opined that the Yamuna water could be the probable cause of Chambal's pollution.

Meanwhile, after this disaster the authorities at Chambal sanctuary has started intensive efforts to provide better atmosphere to the amphibians of Chambal river specially to the endangered gharials. For ensuring free movement of gharials inside a protected zone, the sanctuary has prepared a plan for reserving a 4,500 kilometres long passage within the Chambal area from Ranipura to Seopur district.

The Union Ministry of Forest and Environment had sought details of thousands of acres of land belonging to more than two dozens villages in Ater Tehsil district Bhind, for converting it into a protected zone for gharials.

As far as figures are concerned, Madhya Pradesh has lost 47 gharials in the portion of the Chambal sanctuary that falls inside its territory between 2007 and 2010. State forest officials maintain that a major chunk of the mortalities occurred in December 2007 and January 2008, when an unknown toxic substance had led to mass casualties among gharials.

The sanctuary, known for housing rare species like gharial, crocodile and dolphins is spread across the States of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment Jairam Ramesh a few months back had informed the Lok Sabha that the sanctuary has lost 127 gharials in the period 2007-10. Five crocodiles also succumbed due to various reasons during the same period, the Minister elaborated.

Of these casualties, Madhya Pradesh reported 47; Rajasthan reported just two, while Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of 78 casualties. The Minister informed that there are about 800 gharials and 300 crocodiles in the National Chambal Sanctuary (NCS).

According to the Minister the deaths could be attributed mostly to the reasons like natural death, poaching and possible effects of some toxins.

When quizzed over the deaths, NCS Superintendent SC Bhadauria clarified the reason behind high mortalities by informing that around 35 gharials had died in the sanctuary areas falling in MP by the end of 2007 and beginning of the following year, when scores of gharials had been affected with an unknown toxic substance across the sanctuary.

He informed that barring this unfortunate incident; the sanctuary has only witnessed a handful of mortalities caused by natural reasons in the last few years. Bhadauria informed that after the 2007 incident, the Forest Department has stepped up monitoring in the sanctuary and experts have provided special training to veterinarians in the area.

Reason for gharial death unknown

A gharial measuring around seven to eight feet was found dead in the Chambal river, on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in February. The exact reasons behind the death are not known till now. The area from where the mortality has been reported is situated at some distance from the Chambal bridge. The reason of death of gharial was not known but locals claim that illegal mining has been going on for years on the banks of Chambal river, which is disturbing the ecology in the area.

Field level surveyof sanctuary area

The National Tri-State Chambal Sanctuary Management Coordination Committee formed last year had in February decided to conduct a field level survey of the Chambal sanctuary area, spread into the boundaries of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan within two months. The meet held at New Delhi stressed that Gharial is the most critically endangered large animal in India, much more than the elephant, tiger, Indian rhino, Ganges river dolphin, lion-tailed macaque, snow leopard, Nilgiri tahr, pygmy hog or Asiatic lion. The participants of the meeting expressed concern over the recent assessments, which indicate that only a small population of less than 200 breeding adult, survive at present in India.