Crocodile carcass floating in Powai lake since Sunday

Jul 01, 2010, Thu . Page 2 . DNA Mumbai Upfront

The carcass of an eight-feet-long crocodile has been lying on the banks of Powai lake since Sunday, when it was first spotted. Despite being informed, the civic body's hydraulic department, which has been carrying out beautification work on the lake, is yet to respond.

Mahesh Karpe, a resident of Powai, said, "On Sunday afternoon, some children who had gone fishing spotted the crocodile's body in the mangroves on the banks of the lake. Though crocodiles have been seen before, it is rare. It is not known how many crocodiles are present in the lake, but spotting one is considered lucky."

When Sishharth Tawde, another resident, learnt about the carcass, he informed the BMC control room, but no action has been taken for three days, raising fear that the lake may get polluted.
Locals then informed an animal activist, Sunish Kunju, from Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). "The lake falls under the BMC hydraulic department's jurisdiction. It has been working on the beautification of the lake since a year. This could have affected marine life."

Vinay Deshpande, BMC hydrau lic engineer, said, "We did not know whom to contact in the forest department. It will now fish out the carcass. We will check water samples to find out if the water has been contaminated."

Dead crocodile rots 3 days in lake as govt, BMC sort out responsibility

Thu Jul 01 2010 . Mumbai News Line

Mumbai : The carcass of a crocodile has been floating in the Powai lake near Ganesh Garden for more than three days, allegedly because municipal and forest authorities expected each other to remove it. The forest department has now said it would have the carcass removed.

Visitors on Wednesday complained of the stench from the carcass, floating amid the hyacinth since at least Sunday. Sunish Subramainan of Plant & Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) alerted the BMC’s hydraulic engineering department, the Powai police and the forest department.

Subramainan said that for three days, the hydraulic engineering department, which is in charge of the lake, and the forest department, responsible for wildlife in the city, kept shifting the responsibility on each other. “The forest department said Powai lake is under the BMC and the civic authorities said it is the forest officials’ job.”

On Wednesday, Shree Bhagwan, the chief conservator of forest in charge of the city’s wildlife, confirmed that he had asked his officials to remove the carcass. “I have also advised our doctors to visit the spot and conduct a post-mortem immediately. The post mortem will prove if the animal’s death was natural and also the approximate day of the death,” he said.

BMC hydraulic engineer Vinay Deshpande said, “Since this morning, we have been running from pillar to post to contact the right forest department persons to pick up the carcass. Now that they have been informed, we will do the follow-up needed after the carcass is removed.”

Activists were concerned that beautification work could have changed the composition of the lake, suffocating the animals. They feared that the rotting carcass may have poisoned the water. “With the beautification under way, people have also begun going to the lake regularly. Many migratory birds also visit the spot and the lake has marine fauna. All this will be affected if the water is poisoned,” Subramanian said. Deshpande said, “The Powai lake’s water is not used for drinking.”

TEARS FOR THE CROCODILE

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 . Front Page

In what seems to be a deplorable situation, the body of a crocodile has been floating in the Powai Lake for past many days, and it has been more than 24 hours, since one of the locals informed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, Forest Department and the police. However, none of the authorities have taken the initiative to remove the body, nor do they seem interested in probing the reasons for the animal’s death.
Animal activists have taken a serious note of the issue and have demanded that an autopsy be performed on the dead croc, as they believe, pollutants in the lake might have killed the animal.

According to Sunish Subramanian, founder of Plant and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) Mumbai, who was informed by the locals about the body, “The ongoing beautification of the lake by the BMC, which is taking much time to complete, has taken its toll on the lake’s eco-system and its inhabitants. The forest officials should conduct a post mortem. The BMC should also check for pollutants in the lake, as high levels will spell doom for the other animals too.”
On Monday afternoon, a local fishermen who was fishing at the lake, noticed the body and immediately informed the authorities and PAWS. The BMC’s hydraulic department staff did visit the spot, but returned without taking any action.

When contacted, Asha Khorke, police sub inspector, Powai police station, said, “The case belongs to the BMC. They had approached us, but we instructed them to fish out the croc’s body on their own.”

Vinay Deshpande, Hydraulic Engineer, when contacted, said he was unaware about the incident and that he would check with his juniors. So did T.N. Patil, the forest officer.

Meanwhile, Siddharth Tayde, a local, said, “Looking at the body, it appears that the crocodile must have died two-three days ago. The stench has greatly inconvenienced locals and tourists.”

Doomed as predicted

About one year ago, the BMC had undertaken the Powai Lake beautification project, including construction of a musical fountain at the lake, which is still in the pipeline. However, many environmentalists and animal activists had opposed the project citing that it would destroy the lake’s eco-system and affect the animals and birds dependent on it.

Animal welfare board calls for action against encroachers

Sunday Times of India . June 20, 2010 . Times City . Page 2

Mumbai: In the backdrop of the illegal construction activity inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park near Wagle Estate,Thane,which came to light recently,the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has written to the forest department asking them to take action against the offenders.

The letter,written by the AWBI secretary D Rajshekhar to the principal chief conservator of forests states that the board has received reliable information from animal welfare activists about the illegal encroachments on forest land in Thane.The board functions under the Ministry of Environment and Forests.Sunish Subramanian,secretary of Plant and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and also an honorary animal welfare officer said,Over the last few months,there has been a surge of illegal construction activities around the boundary of the park.The encroachers have broken the boundary wall

Satish Phale,assistant conservator of forests,Thane division,said,We are aware that the structures are illegal and have clear records to prove this.The matter is now in court.

Forest officials allege that the even the recent spate of forest fires is man-made.Records show that 91 forest fires occurred within the park area destroying 224.84 hectares of green cover in the last two years.The state has been turning a blind eye to this issue by not providing adequate manpower, said Debi Goenka,trustee of Conservation Action Trust.

Park officials cite lack of manpower as the reason for unchecked encroachments and forest fires.There are only 126 permanent guards;hardly one guard per 5km.We need least 400-450 permanent guards, said a park official.

Animal activist complained about encroachments on forest land, no action yet

HT Live Thane-Mulund, Saturday, June 05, 2010 . Your Neighbourhood . Page 3

Thane : More than threemonths after animal activist Sunish Subramanian brought to light the encroachment on forest land at Hanuman Nagarin WagleEstate,little has been done to remove the encroach- ments.

Subramanian, founder and secretary of PAWS-Mumbai, hadvisited the site in March and found thatashop con- structionhadencroachedupon the forest land.

“Thereisaboundary wall demarcating the forest landand the adjoining MIDC land. The shop owner hadbrokendown thewallandextended the shop onto the forest land. This is a clear violation.Whatwerethe forest guards doing when the boundarywallwasdemolished and when the construction began?” said Subramanian.

Subramanian hadalready informed forest rangeofficer Prashant Masurkarabout the encroachment.Butwhennoth- ing came of it, he mailed alet- teronMarch21 along with pho- tographsandvideo to assistant conservator of forests of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Yeoor forests)SatishPhaleandmarked acopytoenvironment minis- ter Jairam Ramesh, secretary of Animals WelfareBoardof India (AWBI) and other offi- cials.

D. Rajasekar,secretary of AWBI, recently directed the principal chief conservator of forests, Nagpur to takeaction against the encroachments.

Meanwhile,Yeoor forest offi- cialshave registeredanoffence andalso filedacaseintheThane court.
“The other partyhad raised doubts overthe demarcation of land.So,thecourthadordered asurvey forthesamebyagov- ernment agency.But the sur- vey has not yetbeen done.So, we aregoing to request the court in the next hearing on June 14 to go by what we say andorder the demolition of the encroachment,”said Satish Phale.

પશુ-પક્ષીઓને લૂ લાગવાના કિસ્સા

Monday, Apr 19th, 2010

ઉનાળાની ગરમીમાં ફક્ત માણસજાતને જ નહીં, પણ પ્રાણીઓ, પક્ષીઓ અને સરિસૃપ પ્રકારનાં જનાવરોને પણ લૂ લાગે છે. મુંબઈમાં પ્લાન્ટ્સ એન્ડ એનિમલ્સ વેલફેર સોસાયટી (પીએડબ્લ્યુએસ- પોઝ) નામની જીવદયાનું કામ કરતી સંસ્થાને સામાન્યપણે પક્ષીઓને લૂ લાગ્યાના કિસ્સા મે મહિનાથી મળે છે.

આ કિસ્સામાં ગયા વર્ષ કરતાં વધારો થયો છે, એટલું જ નહીં પણ સંસ્થાને માર્ચ મહિનાથી જ પક્ષી-પશુને લૂ લાગ્યાના કોલ મળવા લાગ્યા છે. કબૂતરો, સમડી, ગરુડ અને કાગડા જેવાં પક્ષીઓને લૂની સૌથી વધારે અસર થાય છે. આ વર્ષે પોઝ- મુંબઈને લૂની અસર પામેલાં ૨૫ કબૂતરો, ૧ પોપટ, ૪ સમડી, ૧ ખિસકોલીનું બચચું અને ૧ બાળ ગરોળી કે કાચિંડો મળ્યાં હતાં.

ગરમીની અસર પામેલું ખિસકોલીનું બરચું પ્રાણીપ્રેમી શ્રુતિ ભટ્ટને તેમની ગેલેરીમાંથી મળ્યું હતું જયારે પોઝના સભ્ય આર. વી. રાઘવનને મંડલા બીએઆરસી કોલોનીના દરવાજા પાસેની સિક્યુરિટીમાંથી બાળગરોળી મળી હતી. સારવાર બાદ સાજાં થયેલાં આ જીવોને જંગલ ખાતાના સ્ટાફને સોંપી દેવાય છે.

Web Site Link : http://www.divyabhaskar.co.in/2010/04/19/bird-and-animals-of-hit-wave-886678.html

PAWS expose illegalities in Borivli Natinal Park PAWS expose illegalities in Borivli Natinal Park

Monday, May 31, 2010 . Page 24

Following the sting operation carried out by PAWS, exposing the flourishing encroachment within the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which was later submitted to the to the forest department, the Ministry of Environment and Forest Department had taken a serious note of the issue and has the Principal Conservator Officer of Forest, Maharashtra to probe into the matter and punish the guilty.

PAWS in their video highlighted the rampant illegal construction coming up near Wagle Estate, Thane. On one hand, where illegal bungalows and shanties at Yeoor are demolished and those dislocated are being relocated, on the other the forest department in truing a blind eye to ongoing encroachment.
According to Sunish Subramanian, Founder, PAWS and also a member of the High Court appointed Committee to Monitor Animal Welfare Laws in Maharashtra, “When I was tipped off in April about the illegal construction work mushrooming within the park, I immediately conducted an inspection and after noticing the encroachment, I decided to come the back next day along with forest officers and catch the culprits red-handedBut when I approached the park officials, they lacked interest, hence I decide to undertake the sting operation.”

After filming the illegal construction, Subramanian forwarded the evidence to animal welfare board and other department, demanding stringent action against the mushrooming encroachment and culprits.

Taking Subramanian’s demand and evidence seriously, last week, the Ministry of Environment and Forest Department has given written orders (copy of which is available with ADC) to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests to conduct an in-depth enquiry.

When contacted, Dr. P.N. Mundey, Chief Conservator of Forest, under whose jurisdiction Sanjay Gandhi National Park falls, said, “We are yet to receive enquiry order from the Principal Conservator of Forest, Nagpur. Once we receive it we will do the needful.”