Gunshots often crack in the thick late autumn air from the areas surrounding the wetlands in Kashmir. The massacre of winged guests of the various wetlands happens unabated even to this day. The hunted birds are sold in shady makeshift markets on the service roads of the main highway from Srinagar to Baramulla – a bird may fetch a price ranging from Rs.400 to Rs.800.
Most of this hunting is done illegally and under the cover of darkness. Hokersar wetland, a Ramsar wetland, located just 12 kilometers west of Srinagar is surrounded by around a dozen villages. The idlers in a good number of these villages feel it is time to make hay when mid-November cold sets in – it is when most of the migratory birds use this wetland as a halting point in their journey. Greylag goose, Mullard, pochard, and Eurasian coot are some of the birds that use Hokersar as a stopping point for their journey which starts from swathes of China and Siberia.
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The government has taken numerous steps to curb this crime of bird poaching but due to lack of manpower and difficulty in navigating the swampy terrain, the poachers manage to have a field day most of the time. Wetland preservation has to be on the priority list of all governments. Wetlands are emblematic of the ecological health of a valley in particular. If the wetland are healthy the ecological balance of the valley is in good health. And in the same breath if wetlands are diseased then the whole ecological balance goes for a toss.
Apart from poachers wetlands are facing a bigger risk from land sharks – these are real estate henchmen who take every step to ensure they encroach upon wetlands by steadily filling them up over a period of a few years. Most of the times there seems to be a collaboration between the authorities and these land sharks. The need of the hour is to conduct a thorough survey as to how much land under wetlands preservation has already been encroached upon by these land sharks. The horizontal expansion of the city is aiding this encroachment as the administration has failed to convince people that vertical expansion is the only option left.
Wetlands are our most prized possessions. We need to protect them at all costs.
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