Manjeera sanctuary of Telangana turns man-animal battleground

 

Apart from the threatened mugger crocodile, the sanctuary is home to 10 species of amphibians, 26 species of reptiles, 18 species of mammals and over 170 species of bird species. The conflict is between these species and lakhs of people in Hyderabad and nearby mandals in Medak district like Sanga Reddy and Gajwel to whom Manjeera provides water for drinking and irrigation.

 

The water level at Manjeera has gone down to as low 0.025 TMC, from its capacity of 1.5 TMC, making the fight over water more intensive. A Forest department official said, “There is an urgent need for coordination between the Revenue and Forest departments.

 

As needs of people as well as animals cannot be ignored, there needs to be a check on how much water is being drawn from the river so that a minimum amount of water is maintained for the crocodiles to survive. Due to lack of water even arrivals of migratory species of birds have been negligible this year."

 

This year the Forest officials conducted around 18-20 rescues of mugger crocodiles, which had ventured out of the river into nearby agricultural fields due to dwindling water levels in the river. The Forest department has jurisdiction over the sanctuary which covers only the length of the Manjeera river, up to 36 kilometers, but does not have the river banks under their jurisdiction apart from a small piece of land which houses a breeding center.

 

The eco sensitive zone for Manjeera sanctuary with 65 square kilometer area under it, which would extend about one kilometer from the river on both sides, is still in the draft stage. This leaves the Forest department powerless over the agricultural fields, which are very close to the river and are irrigated by illegally extracted river water.

 

The Forest department, with its staff of about 10 people, finds it difficult to keep an eye on the 36 km stretch. 

Forest officials now plan to approach the Medak district collector on the issue.