UP govt seeks 4 weeks to tell NGT of status of Greater Noida’s Dhanauri wetland

The wetland harbours 23 species of endangered birds, but the Uttar Pradesh government has been dragging its feet on notifying the area as a wetland

The Uttar Pradesh government has sought four weeks’ time to inform the National Green Tribunal (NGT) about the status of notifying or providing legal protection to the Dhanauri wetland in Greater Noida.

The Dhanauri wetland is home to over 150 sarus cranes. (HT archive)

The Dhanauri wetland harbours 23 species of endangered, critically endangered, and threatened birds, and is one of the most important habitats for the sarus crane. However, the Uttar Pradesh government has been dragging its feet on notifying the area as a wetland for several years now.

Anand Arya, a Greater Noida-based birder and environmentalist, moved NGT on October 3, praying that the tribunal direct the UP government to notify Dhanauri wetland as the Balmiki Ramsar Wetland and Sarus Sanctuary/Conservation Reserve, as directed by the Union environment ministry in five separate letters between 2019 and 2022 — May 28, 2019; March 20, 2020; August 30, 2020; February 21, 2022; and March 17, 2022 — and implement a conservation plan for the wetland in consultation with the Wildlife Institute of India.

The UP government’s counsel has sought four weeks’ time to respond.

HT reached out to Gautam Budh Nagar district forest officer PK Srivastava, who said, “The final proposal was submitted to the Wetland Authority in Lucknow on January 4 this year. It is the authority’s onus to take further action.”

UP principal chief conservator of forests SK Sharma said he will comment on the matter on Monday.

Dhanauri is a natural wetland of great significance and is home to over 217 species of birds, all seen, recorded and photographed by Arya over seven years from June 2014. It is a birding and nesting site—it has been recognised as an Important Bird Area by Bird Life International and so recorded by the BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society). It is home to over 50,000 waterfowls at the peak of migratory season during November and March. It is also home to over 150 sarus crane, and these numbers can be seen at roosting time during March to May.

Arya in his petition, which HT has seen, highlighted non-compliance and non-implementation of rule 7 of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 by the UP State Wetlands Authority, which failed to notify Dhanauri as a Ramsar wetland.

The application also raises the failure of the UP government to notify Dhanauri as a wetland, as per the directions of the Supreme Court in orders passed on February 8, 2017 and October 4, 2017 in the case MK Balakrishnan vs Union of India & Ors, which directed that over 200,000 wetlands in India based on Indian Space Research Organisation mapping be declared as wetlands by state governments.

On June 6, 2019, HT had reported that on May 29, 2019, the environment ministry’s national river conservation directorate wrote to the principal secretary of the UP forest department, asking them to propose Dhanauri for a Ramsar site tag. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands globally. There are nine criteria for being accepted as a Ramsar site, including that the site should support vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities. A wetland can also be considered for the tag if it regularly supports 1% individuals of a species or subspecies of water birds.