Winters are turning inauspicious for ghariyals in Uttar Pradesh. More than 100 ghariyals died in the winter months last year at the National Chambal Sanctuary. This winter 1,000 ghariyals of Kukrail Rehabilitation Centre might perish due to hunger. The fishermen supplying fishes to the rehabilitation centre for ghariyals’ diet are threatening to call off their contract with the department. Two of them complained that the department owed them around Rs 1.50 lakh. Lack of funds is emerging a big problem for the centre that shelters close to 800 ghariyals. The cost incurred on their survival is not less than Rs 5 lakh per year. But, with not even a single penny left with the centre to take care of its inmates, will all ghariyals be released in the wild? It might be early to say so, but not an exaggeration. The centre released Rs 3.60 lakh in July 2007 and the entire amount has been spent on the feeding and rearing of ghariyals. The number of ghariyals reared at the centre has increased this year after more than 200 eggs were brought from the ill-fated Chambal Sanctuary for artificial rearing here. The finance committee of the forest department and forest corporation had sanctioned Rs 5 lakh in September but the money is still to reach the centre’s end. The committee is chaired by principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) and the fund has got a green signal from this committee. What is blocking the release of money is still not known. “We might get it soon,” said Eva Sharma, conservator, endangered species, UP. The ghariyal has been identified as a critically endangered species in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) 2008 list. But, the state is yet to wake up to its threatened status.
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