BIBHUTI PATI, Tehelka
October 27, 2007
The Orissa government is redrawing wildlife sanctuaries to legalise illicit mines and free areas for exploitation
Hadgarh wildlife sanctuary, Orissa
ORISSA’S FRAGILE ecosystem, sustaining some of the most endangered species on the planet, is collapsing under the weight of relentless industrialisation. The critically endangered Indian gharial is almost on the verge of extinction, and the number of elephants in the state is rapidly shrinking. Moreover, mining has so polluted the state’s rivers and soil that they have now become hazardous even to humans.
According to reports, most of the over 100 open iron ore mines in operation in the Keonjhar forest division are illegal. Spread over 60,000 hectares, the mines have cut off the elephant corridor between the Baitarani Elephant Reserve in Keonjhar and the Dalma wildlife sanctuary in Singhbhum, resulting in rising cases of elephant deaths and of their being killed when they stray into human settlements. Says wildlife activist Susanta Panda, “A plan for regeneration of forest cover in the mining areas is imperative. Blasting time should be regulated between 9am and 11am.”
But the government is pushing ahead with pro-industry policies in the name of development. Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was promising in New Delhi that agricultural land would not be acquired for setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Industry Minister Biswabhusan Harichandan said in Bhubaneswar that farmers would have to make “sacrifices” for the state’s development.
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