Animal rights' body calls for Deepor Beel conservation

Guwahati, Aug 24 (UNI) The famous natural wetland on the outskirts of Guwahati, which hosts migratory birds every season, Deepor Beel, is again hogging the limelight for alleged apathy towards it.

Various individuals and organisations have long advocated the need for protection of the Beel, with the NGO, People For Animals (PFA), adding voice to the call.

PFA chairperson Sangeeta Goswami recently submitted a memorandum to the prime minister regarding the preservation of the wetland and also held discussions with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Ms Goswami pointed towards the immense potential the site has as a tourist destination. Located about 8 km from the main city and 3 km from the airport, it is an ideal retreat for the local people as well as the visitors.

The wetland hosts a large number of migratory birds between November to April, besides being home to elephants, hogs, tigers, gibbons and other animals and birds.

The PFA appealed for promotion of the wetland as a tourist spot, which would help check the mass felling of trees and encroachment of land near the Beel.

Ms Goswami said the dumping of the city's solid waste by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation close to the Beel was posing a threat to it and the water would be contaminated by it.

The brick fields built in its close proximity were also posing a hazard to the Beel's preservation, she added.

The PFA pointed out that the railway tracks, running through the Beel area despite protests against it, had caused the death of many elephants.

The proposal of the state government to hold several aquatic competitions during the National Games in February next year in the Deepor Beel has also not gone down well with the conservationists.

Doubts were being aired that the authorities would not heed environmental safeguard norms in conducting the competitions and the ecology of this natural wetland would suffer irreparable damages in the process.

UNI SG PL AB 1552