Gharial habitat cannot be disturbed

JAIPUR: The Centre will shortly release Rs.259 crore for two ambitious projects for conservation and pollution control in the world-famous Pichola lake of Udaipur and Chambal river of Kota district in Rajasthan under the National Lake Conservation Project (NLCP).

The Supreme Court today gave the green signal for a Rs 503-crore drinking water project meant for 930 villages and towns in Karauli and Sawai Madhopur districts of Rajasthan.

The project, which will be implemented by the Public Health and Engineering department in about a year, involves laying of a 160-km pipeline to draw water from the Chambal river.

The infamous Chambal Valley, the erstwhile paradise for dacoits, is gearing up for a makeover. Its barren landscape with deep gorges and ravines will soon see wind energy plants and its earth will be used for biofuel.

The Chambals will get a makeover

researchers have started telemetry tests on gharials in the Chambal river to gather information for the species

Farmers of Gwalior-Chambal region, who were facing drought-like conditions for the last four year, this year are a happy lot as the rains have come in abundance. Due to heavy rains in Bhind district, rivers including Chambal, Bainsli and Kwari are in spate. The farmers here are happy as they would be able to do agriculture in a better way. They are preparing to sow kharif crops. However, the farmers who had completed sowing during light rains are a little worried. The heavy rains in Bhind district have claimed four lives and it is essential to provide relief to the kin of those killed.

"Study will yield vital new information on their habitats " NEW DELHI: "We could be closer than ever before in understanding the real cause of the death of more than a hundred gharials at the National Chambal Sanctuary since December 2007," said Gharial Crisis Management Group chairman Ravi Singh here on Friday.

The Southwest Monsoon has broken in right earnest much ahead of schedule over northern Madhya Pradesh that was reeling under drought conditions for the past few years. Isolated medium to heavy rain is being recorded in the rest of the state.

Despite the mysterious death of more than 100 gharials in the Chambal river in the past three months, the Madhya Pradesh government today claimed that gharial and Magar population in Chambal national park has markedly increased while Gangestic river dolphins declined. A survey conducted on 435 Km stretch of the river from February 11 to 23 revealed that there were a total of 996 gharials as compared to 865 found last year, while the Magar population also rose from 194 to 219 during the period.

scientists seem to have come to a conclusion on what could have killed more than 100 gharials in Chambal waters recently. Tilapia, an invasive fish could have caused the deaths along the Uttar