Ensure water supply to Surajpur: Greens

GREATER NOIDA: Environmentalists based in Greater Noida have asked the forest department to enter a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the irrigation department of Uttar Pradesh to ensure that water supply to the Surajpur Wetland is not disrupted.

The Surajpur wetland has dried up over the last two months, with few birds present now. With a request from the forest department, water is being released into the area Thursday, and that has helped create some muddy patches.

“In response to our request, the irrigation department has released water and the level is rising,” said P K Srivastava, forest officer of Gautam Budh Nagar .

“Since the wetland is dependent on the Tilpata canal, we have been demanding the forest department to make a formal understanding with the irrigation department so that the water supply is not disrupted,” Vikrant Tongad, an environmentalist who has been working on forest and water body conservation, said.

“There is a need for sanctity in the way waterbodies are listed and conserved. There are lots of rules as per the Wetland conservation Act of 2010 that need to be adhered to when a waterbody is pronounced a wetland,” a birder and environmental activist, Anand Arya said. “By cutting of water supply to a wetland, one actually starts killing a habitat. It is no wonder that there are no birds at Surajpur now,” Arya added.

Source : The Times of India