National Green Tribunal
Villagers Of Villages Sinodiya Gram ... vs Union Of India Through Secretary ... on 20 September, 2017
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL, CENTRAL ZONAL BENCH,
BHOPAL
Original Application No. 54/2015 (CZ)
Babulal Jajoo Vs. President & State of Rajasthan & 3 Ors.
and
Original Application No. 72/2016 (CZ)
Ajay Dubey (Wetland Authority) Vs. State of Rajasthan & 3 Ors.
and
Original Application No. 92/2016 (CZ)
Villagers of Village Sinodiya & 3 Ors. vs. Union of India & Ors.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DALIP SINGH, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE DR. SATYAWAN SINGH GARBYAL, EXPERT MEMBER
PRESENT : Applicant: None
MoEF: Shri Om. Shankar Shrivastav, Adv.
Dr. M. Ramesh, Scientist, MoEF
State of Raj. / RSPCB : Shri Sandeep Singh, Adv.
SWRPD,Jaipur Shri Rakesh Gupta, SE,
Shri Prem Singh Shekhawat, Forest
Shri K.K. Pareek,
Dy. Director Industries
Respondent : Shri Vivek Choudhary, Adv. with
Shri Abhimanyu Sharma, C.P.C.B & C.G.W.B Shri Yadavendra Yadav, Adv.
AVVNL : Shri M.R. Vishmari,M.D.
Shri Sandeep Singh Shekhawat, Adv.
Shri Ayush Dev Bajpai, Adv.
Date and
Order of the Tribunal
Remarks
Order No. 17 As directed in our last order dtd. 05.09.2017 Managing
20th September, Director, Ajmer Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd. is present. He has
2017
submitted that they have already started disconnection of unauthorised electricity which were being used for drawing brine from Sambhar Lake for illegal manufacturing of salt. It has been submitted that along with the disconnection of the electricity transformers are also being removed from the locality. It has been stated that there are 848 transformers around the Sambhar Lake of which 582 are in Nawa and 266 in Roopnagar area and they have removed 24 transformers till date. The Managing Director, Ajmer Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd. has further stated that it will take about 3 1 months to remove all the transformers. We direct that the disconnections be completed within next two weeks and the work of removal of transformers be completed by November end. While removing transformers the Wildlife authorities may be consulted so that the transformers from the vulnerable areas are removed first as flamingos and other migratory birds will start arriving at Sambhar Lake by October onwards.
The Joint Director from the Wetland Division of the MoEF is present. He has submitted that the initial proposal for declaration of Sambhar Lake as Ramsar Site was received from the Forest Department, Govt. of Rajasthan vide letter No. F.11(56) Forest/85 dtd. 03.06.1989 as the Sambhar Lake which has situated in the then Jodhpur Rajasthan covering about 24,000 hectares was said to be suitable area for inclusion in the list of wetlands of International importance as the Sambhar Lake is famous for harbouring flamingos in large numbers, next only to Rann of Kutch in the country. It was further stated that the waders congregate here in appreciable numbers besides migratory ducks especially pochards, coots and other aquatic birds and other terrestrial fauna confined to the catchment other includes rare / threatened species like Uromastix, Saw-scaled viper, desert cat and desert fox etc. It has also been stated in the proposal that siltation, soil salination and discharge of sewage from town are some of the major problems confronting the wetland and for the management of Eco- system scheme is being prepared by the State Government which would be funded by the Central Government and other concerned agencies.
On receipt of the proposal Sambhar Lake was notified as Ramsar Site in the year 1990. The officer present has submitted that as per the requirement of the Ramsar Sites the States are required to send reports about the site once in every six years to the MoEF, 2 Govt. of India. However, no such reports have been received from the State of Rajasthan since 1990 till date. It is a matter of grave concern that after notification of Sambhar Lake as Ramsar Site in 1990 neither the MoEF, Govt. of India nor the State of Rajasthan care to know the status of Sambhar Lake as no reports were ever prepared. The Sambhar Lake which was said to be the wetland of international importance was completely neglected as a result the Sambhar Lake is now almost dead because of large scale unauthorised salt manufacture in and around Sambhar Lake. In fact the Ramsar Site report for Sambhar Lake is required to contain following :
1. Uses and Threats :
Current land use:
Within the sites surroundings / catchment :
Grazing ( unspecified) Within the Ramsar site:
Salt production Threats :
Within the site's surrounding / catchment : Overgrazing by domestic livestock Desertification from agricultural activities Within the Ramsar site :
Sedimentation / siltation Domestic sewage pollution Land tenure / ownership :
Sites surroundings:
Within the Ramsar site :
Provincial / region / State Ecological changes :
Significant negative changes occurring since designation
2. Physical data:
Salinity :
Euhaline / Eusaline Permanence :
Usually seasonal / intermittent
3. Information on conservational issues :
Management plan status :
Site specific plan in preparation, for part (s) of site (P) Information on conservational designation : No other international designation besides Ramsar 3 National Conservation Designation : None Ramsar Criteria :
No information available
4. Ecological Data :
Wetland category :
Human made wetlands Inland wetlands Wetland type (dominant type in bold) Salt exploitation sites : salt pans , salines , etc. (5) Seasonal / intermittent fresh water marshes / pools on inorganic soil : includes sloughs, pothols seasonally flooded meadows, sedge marshes (Ts) Seasonal/intermittent saline/brackish/alkaline lakes and flats (R) Permanent Saline/brackish/alkaline lakes(Q) Seasonal/intermittent/irregular rivers/streams/creeks (N)
5. Biological values :
Fauna Type Water bird wintering/non-breeding/dry season area Supports rare/endangered species.
It would be seen that all above information is important to regularly monitor the status of the Ramsar Site. In fact the current situation is such that the State Government authorities do not even know the exact extent of the Lake and there is no demarcation of the boundary of the site on the ground.
We would therefore, direct the MoEF to send the concerned officers from the National Wetland Authority and other experts including those from National Wildlife Board to the Sambhar Lake to assess the current status of Sambhar Lake. This visit shall be done within next two weeks and report be submitted to this Tribunal before the next date of hearing.
The State of Rajasthan has also been guilty of completely neglecting the Sambhar Lake. It is surprising that despite the fact that the Sambhar Lake is rich in Flamingoes, migratory and other residential birds and other rare and threatened species Sambhar Lake the was not declared as Bird Sanctuary or National Park. In fact the responsibility of looking after Sambhar Lake has not even 4 been assigned to the Forest and Wildlife Department and it was rather left to be taken care of by the Revenue Authorities. In fact no specific responsibility has been assigned to any agency for the protection and management of Sambhar Lake for the last 25 years as the Rajasthan Lake Development Authority came into being only in 2015 who has been assigned responsibility for protection, preservation and management of all the Water bodies and Wetlands in the State. The Officer from the MoEF stated that Ministry has been funding schemes prepared for management of Sambhar Lake eco-system and the fund was being regularly sent to the Environment Department of the State. However, there is no sign of any activity in the area. We direct the State of Rajasthan to submit the details of the funds received year-wise from the MoEF for the management of Sambhar Lake and the details of the year wise expenditure incurred till date.
The Joint Director of the MoEF has placed the Remote Sensing Data of Sambhar Lake for our perusal. This includes Wetland map of Sambhar Lake and salient observations of the lake from supplied data which are as below :
Table 45 : Salient observations of Sambhar Lake from Satellite Data Name Sambhar Lake Location 26º51'56" to 27º03'19" N Latitude 27º53'30" to 75º14'14" E Longitude Wetland Type Lake/Pond Wetland Area : 24294 ha Perimeter 229 km Open-water Post-monsoon : 17866 ha Pre-monsoon : 16601 ha Vegetation Post-monsoon : NIL Pre-monsoon : NIL Overall Turbidity : High They have also placed plan showing stream and branches flowing in salt lake which was enclosed along with the original 5 proposal dtd. 03.06.1989 sent to the MoEF.
We direct that copies of this data and the map be submitted to the officials of the Local Self Department, Govt. of Rajasthan and Rajasthan Lake Development Authority to compare the same along with the current revenue map of the Sambhar Lake so as to find out the exact extent of the Sambhar Lake.
The report of the same be submitted to this Tribunal before the next date of hearing i.e. on 30.10.2017.
Let these matters be listed on 30th, October, 2017.
......................................,JM (DALIP SINGH) ....................................,EM (Dr. S.S.GARBYAL) 6