As many as 36 animal and plant species in Gujarat have been categorized as endangered by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Prakash
At the Tata plant in Mithapur, effluent is taken to huge mud trenches, effluent-settlement ponds, which cover about 243 ha. The liquid is supposed to go to the sea from here after suspended solids in
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Each wild ass in Little Rann of Kutch is set to cost the Gujarat government's coffers a minimum of Rs 7 lakh. This is the price the state government will be unwillingly paying for protecting the wild ass from the Narmada canal, proposed to pass through a 25 kilometre stretch of their sanctuary dividing Little Rann of Kutch from the Greater Rann of Kutch.
The Wild Ass Sanctuary in Little Rann of Kutch has been selected by Centre for Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihood Improvement project.
The National Wildlife Board, at its standing committee meeting on Tuesday in Delhi, cleared the Gujarat government proposal to allow the Narmada canal to pass through the Little Rann of Kutch. The canal will bring Narmada waters into the southern coast of the Kutch district. A senior state official, who participated in the Delhi meeting, said that the Central board had cleared the construction of a 40-km-long canal stretch through the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann. The canal, which will begin on the western tip of Santalpur taluka of Patan district bordering the Little Rann, will have to allow around 3,800 wild asses in the sanctuary smooth movement with the help of 18 safe passages and four siphons, the official said, adding, "The two sides of the canal have to be fenced to ensure that the animals do not fall into it.' Earlier, the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation had prepared a detailed report, identifying the movement of the wild ass in order to enable the Narmada canal to pass through the sanctuary. "The GEER foundation's recommendation has been broadly accepted, though with some modification,' the official said, adding, "However, the central board has asked the state forest department to study a few more areas where there are chances of wild ass movement.' The board's advisory, clearing the canal through the sanctuary, has now gone to the Central Empowered Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court, which gives the final word for any diversion of land in a reserved forest area, for developmental purpose.
SALT overpowers you in the Little Rann of Kutch. It burns the insides of your nose. You can taste it on your tongue and lips. It makes your eyes run. All it takes is an hour in the Rann for salt to saturate your senses. The Little Rann of Kutch is home to the last surviving species of the Asiatic wild ass.
Pockets of salt manufacturing uits and an army firing range within the Wild Ass Sanctuary i Gujarat are scaring the animals away
thousands of saltpan workers, called Agarias, from 107 villages in Gujarat's Rajkot, Surendranagar, Patan and Kutch districts face displacement with the Gujarat forest department serving them an
