48 more tigers roar in Assam

48 more tiger roar in Assam

ROOPAK GOSWAMI
Guwahati, March 28: The Royal Bengal tiger is thriving in the abode of the one-horned rhino. In the past four years, there has been an increase of 48 tigers in Assam — approximately 16 per cent of the total increase of 295 tigers in the country.
The results of the All-India Tiger Estimation exercise, declared by Union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi today, shows that tiger conservation efforts have paid off.
According to the 2010 census, there are 1,706 tigers in the country now, compared to 1,411 big cats in 2006.
In the Northeast’s hills and Brahmaputra flood plains, the latest census report pegs the tiger population at 148 (or 8.67 per cent of the country's tigers) compared to 100 in 2006. Of the estimated 148 tigers, 143 are in Assam and five in Mizoram.
While the tiger population has increased by 48 in Assam, the report says it is stable in Mizoram and data collection is still under way in Arunachal Pradesh.
The report says the tiger population in the region could be between 118 and 178, which means that it cannot be lower than 118 and if counted properly, could reach 178.
The 2006 report had set the lower and upper limit of the tiger population in the Northeast between 84 and 118.
Referring to the latest estimate, a top forest official of the Assam forest department told this correspondent, “It is a very good estimate and is an encouraging sign. It reflects our efforts in tiger conservation.”
Firoz Ahmed, a wildlife biologist with Aaranyak, who is involved in camera trapping of tigers in Assam told The Telegraph, “The upper limit of 178 is more realistic. It will increase as we do more study in Arunachal Pradesh and Karbi Anglong.” He was present in Delhi when the report was released.

The result shows Assam’s Kaziranga National Park to be the best tiger reserve in the region. It is estimated to have 106 tigers, with the lower and upper limits estimated between 81 and 131, in 800 square km.
“We are on the right track and the trend is good. Work is still ongoing on,” a senior park official said.
The good situation in Kaziranga supports the report, which says, “The positive trends in tiger population estimates in source sites are encouraging. The fact that better protected tiger source sites have maintained viable tiger populations underscores the importance of strong managerial support.”
Of the other two tiger reserves in Assam, Manas and Pakke-Nameri national parks, the former has not fared well.
In Manas, the report says, there are nine tigers in 639 square km. Experts feel the lower and upper limits of tigers in the reserve could be between 15 and 18. Manas has already been categorised as a low-density tiger reserve. In November last year, the forest authorities of India and Bhutan had agreed to start a joint initiative to “camera trap” tigers moving across the international border.
The report estimate puts the tiger population in Pakke-Nameri as nine in 371 square km, with the lower and upper limits estimated between seven and 11. Some preliminary work had started in Pakke last year and the reserve reportedly recorded a density of only 1.9 tigers per 100 square km.
Dampa tiger reserve in Mizoram is estimated to have five tigers.

The report says the entire survey and research work of the 2010 estimations of tigers will soon be put into the public domain.

Government officials and wildlife scientists, however, have cautioned against complacency amid disturbing losses and disputes over counting of tigers.

The estimates for 2010 released by the Union environment and forests ministry suggest a 16 per cent increase in the number of tigers in all tiger landscapes except the Sunderbans where no assessment had been done in 2006.

But a conservation scientist said the 16 per cent increase would suggest a reversal of the previous decline of tigers.

The new counts suggest that tiger populations have over the past four years increased in the Shivalik-Gangetic plains, along the western ghats, and in the northeastern hills and the Brahmaputra flood plains, but have decreased in central India and eastern ghats.

Census co-ordinators say the effort involved an analysis of field data collected by trained personnel, a status analysis of tiger habitat via satellites, and camera capture to identify individual tigers on the basis of their unique stripe patterns.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING FROM NEW DELHI

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tea crop loss hits inland container deport Amingaon

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Tea crop loss because of pest attack has taken a toll this year on the inland container depot at Amingaon — the only dry port in the region —as 7 million kg of tea could not be sent.
Sources said 2,285 containers were sent in 2010-11, compared to 2,954 in 2009-10, which was the highest in the history of the inland container depot since its inception.
This year, the production in the Brahmaputra Valley from January to December 2010 recorded a crop decrease of 16 million kg, totalling
420 million kg, because of
incessant rainfall early in
the season leading to pest attacks, particularly in Upper Assam.
Around 36 rakes were sent from the inland container depot and the highest number of containers was by McLeod Russell, which sent 1,572 containers, followed by Apeejay and MK Shah Exports, which had sent 336 and 224 containers respectively.
In 2009-10, McLeod Russell had sent 2,273 containers. The rail-linked depot is under the Container Corporation of India Limited.
Gillanders Arbuthnot Limited, which had never sent tea from the depot, made its debut this year by sending six containers.
Nine companies are presently sending tea from the depot. Tea is mainly sent to the UK, Europe and West Asia.
Other countries where tea is also sent are Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Canada and the US.
Since 1986, when the depot became operational, 50,121kg of tea have been sent from here.
Huge investment has been made by the Container Corporation of India Limited, which is looking after the depot to improve facilities so that more tea could be sent.
“Every segment involved in despatching tea has been hit,” a source said.
Industry officials said more companies should use the route to export their tea for better use of the facility.
A number of shipping lines is involved in exporting tea, with the Shipping Corporation of India shipping the most — 1,135kg.
The increase in deduction from agriculture income on tea exported from the inland container depot at Amingaon from Rs 1 per kg to Rs 5 per kg of tea under the Assam Agricultural Income Tax Act, 1939, has helped tea produced in the state to remain competitive in the international market, which is encouraging companies to use the facility.
A tea industry official said though it has done well in the quality and price front, the export target of 200 million kg was unlikely to be met and was significantly down by 8 million kg to 190 million kg.
“We, therefore, will have to continue to strive to meet our export targets by producing more orthodox tea,” the official said.
He said it was imperative to continue manufacture good Assam orthodox to meet the growing international demand as this would also help in meeting the export targets, since vast majority of importing countries — barring Pakistan and Iraq — prefer orthodox to CTC tea.
The total turnover of tea industry in Assam is about Rs 5,000 crore and another 10 lakh people are dependent on this industry in the state, be it employment or services.

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Experts defer green nod to Chandrapur

Experts defer green nod to Chandrapur


ROOPAK GOSWAMI

March 27: An expert panel of the ministry of environment and forests has deferred the approval of environmental clearance to the 60MW Chandrapur thermal power station which is crucial for power generation to consumers in the city.

A source today said the expert appraisal committee on environmental impact assessment of thermal power and coal mine projects under the ministry of environment and forests, has found that several pieces of information were missing which are important to the assessment of the feasibility of the project, taking into account the environmental concerns.

The decision was taken recently by the expert panel at a meeting held in New Delhi. The panel said the decision of granting environmental clearance would be taken later. Chandrapur is on the outskirts of the city.

The 60MW thermal power plant is now being revived under the public-private partnership mode with Imperial Energy and Construction Private Limited as the private partner.

The committee after deliberating on the project has asked the private partner to provide details of the board of directors in the company, audited annual reports and balance sheets for the last three years and details of open bid process for the refurbishment of the thermal power station. It said any other information, which may be relevant material to assess the management capability should also be presented.

The total cost of the project will be around Rs 227 crore of which Imperial Energy and Construction Private Limited will be investing Rs 197 crore.

The plant will currently be run by Imperial APGCL Power Limited — the special purpose vehicle created for running the project.

The project will require 3 lakh tonnes of coal per annum and it will be obtained from the coal block in Margherita.

Water requirement will be 556 cubic metres per hour, which will be sourced from the Kalang river through a pipeline at a distance of 2km from the project site.

There are no national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, tiger or biosphere reserves within 10km of the project site and, hence, the project will not need a forest clearance.

After revival, the two plants of the power station will produce 60MW power.

The joint venture agreement will remain in force for 15 years from the commercial operation date of the project.


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Network plea to save child miners

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110326/jsp/northeast/story_13764586.jsp

Network plea to save child miners


- 20% kids from Nepal

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Guwahati, March 25: A study on children engaged in rat-hole mining in coal mines of Jaintia Hills district has recommended establishing a network of cross-border partners in Nepal and Bangladesh so that child workers, who are trafficked to work in these mines, could safely be repatriated to their families.

The study, which has been done by Impulse, an NGO from Meghalaya that is working on child trafficking issues and HIV/AIDS, was investigating into the trafficking of children to work in the coal mines of Jaintia Hills.

Around 200 child labourers working in the coal mines of Jaintia Hills were interviewed by a team of field researchers, of whom 20 per cent described themselves as migrants from Nepal.

The study gives accounts of children from Nepal and other places who speak of the problems of working in the mines. The estimated coal reserves in Jaintia Hills are 40 million tonnes and coal extraction is done by primitive surface mining method, commonly known as “rat-hole” mining. In this method, the land is first cleared by cutting and removing the ground vegetation and then pits, ranging from 5 to 100 square metres, are dug into the ground to reach the coal seam.

The study includes the accounts of a 16-year-old boy, Kumarbhai, who has come from Kotang, Nepal, with his maternal uncle and has been working in the mines, where he pulls coal trolleys, for seven months.

“He has not gone home in a year but will visit this year. He says there is a danger of the roof of the mines collapsing. He even knows of four people who have died inside the mines, three inside the pits and one who fell from the bamboo scaffolding. No safety equipment is provided to them in the mines,” the study quotes Kumarbhai.

“From the interviews of mine managers, owners and children, it was found that owners of the mines maintain a strong network with middlemen in Nepal. During peak mining season from October to May, mine owners or managers send information to these middlemen on their requirement of child labourers in the mines. These middlemen go into villages and convince poor families to send their children to work in the coal mines,” the study says.

It says poverty is the primary reason that drives families in Nepal to send their children to work in the mines since they are convinced by the middlemen that there is substantial money to be made by working in the coal mines of Meghalaya.

“The fact that both the families and the children were unaware of the kind of work they would be involved in, indicates that there was deception at play in luring them to work in the mines. However, details of the spread of the network of middlemen or the amount of commission earned by them are outside the scope of this study. A more extensive cross-border analysis is required to unearth the detailed process of recruitment of children,” it says.
 
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DNA study of manas tigers

DNA study of Manas tigers

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Alive & roaring

Guwahati, March 21: The success of genetic assessment of tigers at Buxa tiger reserve in north Bengal has inspired the authorities to begin a similar endeavour at Manas.

“Our work in Buxa has received wide acclaim and we have started the assessment at Manas,” Udayan Borthakur, the head of wildlife, genetics division, of Aaranyak, said.

The authorities at Buxa tiger reserve had asked Aaranyak, a wildlife NGO of Assam, which has its own wildlife genetics laboratory, to carry out genetic assessment of the tiger population.

There are at present 15 tigers in Buxa, three male and nine female. The gender of the three remaining ones could not be identified following the methodology used for the study.

The Buxa experiment was mentioned in Stripes — a bi-monthly outreach journal of National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Borthakur said stringent laboratory conditions were maintained to assess and minimise errors associated with genetic identification of individuals.

“The use of DNA analysis from scats at times is useful to get the minimum estimate of the tiger population,” said Rajesh Gopal,  member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

With a dwindling global population, an estimate of the minimum number of tigers has always been a source of curiosity to wildlife researchers and to managers of protected areas.

“Our study showed that DNA-based techniques of identification of tigers may be considered a practical and low cost option to estimate their population and the long-term monitoring of this species in the protected areas of the country,” Borthakur said.

He said the DNA-based study was important in low-density tiger areas.

“The best thing is that faecal samples are easy to collect and not much cost and logistics are required. Unlike camera trapping where huge costs are involved and lot of logistics are involved, this experiment is cheaper,” he said.

The Manas tiger reserve authorities had requested Aaranyak to carry out the genetic assessment of tigers.

“Faecal samples have been collected from Bansbari and part of Panbari range,” Borthakur said, adding that the samples were collected by the tiger reserve authorities and handed to them.

Gopal said as genetic information is useful for wildlife forensics, besides population estimation, the National Tiger Conservation Authority is currently talking to experts in the field to standardise a uniform protocol for field data collection and analysis.

Manas has a tiger population ranging from 15 to 18.

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Courage, a WWF criterion

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110319/jsp/northeast/story_13735349.jsp

Courage, a WWF criterion


- Girls put abduction behind them to head for new project

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Guwahati, March 18: Wildlife conservation is certainly not for the chicken-hearted, WWF volunteers Tarali Goswami and Shrabana Goswami have proved.

A little over a month after being abducted at gunpoint from Chirang reserve forest during a tiger census, and released after a 48-hour ordeal, the girls are packing their bags again — this time to head for a two month tiger  project in Arunachal Pradesh — undaunted by the risks they had faced.

The two were part of the six-member group kidnapped on February 6, are scheduled to leave on Monday.

While Tarali, Shrabana and their friend Pallabi Chakraborty were released after two days, the three boys in the team were freed after lengthy negotiations.

“These things (incidents) can’t dampen our spirit, physically and mentally,” Pallabi had said after being released.

Tarali and Shrabana have proved Pallabi right.

The two girls, along with David Smith — who was part of the Chirang reserve forest group but escaped abduction — will now spot tigers in the picturesque high-altitude Zemithang valley of Tawang.

The rest of the group is involved in data entry at the office of WWF North Bank Landscape Programme at Tezpur and will be deployed elsewhere.

“We are determined and we should not be afraid. Incidents do happen but the spirit to do work should guide us,” Tarali said.

“We also have a lot of support from our parents,” she added.

Smith, who is from Tenga area of Arunachal Pradesh, is looking forward to the adventure of sighting tigers in Zemithang.

“Our seniors at WWF have helped us a lot in overcoming the tensions. The love of nature has helped us to go ahead,” he said.

Shrabana, too, looked geared up for the project.

“The incident (abduction) was an accident and accidents do happen,” said Shrabana, adding she was prepared to climb to the high-altitude Zemithang.

The area where the youths will be working is between 3,000-6,000 feet and borders Bhutan.

The WWF is happy that the youths have been able to put the abduction behind them.

“They are very young but have not taken this incident negatively. The best part is that they have seen it as a part of life,” said Anupam Sarmah, senior coordinator, North Bank Landscape Programme, WWF India.

The tiger estimation project in Zemithang is being undertaken after villagers informed of tiger presence.

This is also the first place outside a protected area where a survey is being carried out. “We have prepared maps of the places where the tigers are expected to be sighted. We will try to get some signs and once confirmed, we will go for camera trapping,” the official said.

The Arunachal Pradesh forest department is providing all the support required for tiger estimation.

“They are very keen to see the tiger estimation being done in their state,” the official said.
 
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Moef asks GMDA for EIA for games village

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

 The ministry of environment and forests has asked Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to prepare an environmental impact assessment plan for the expansion project of the National Games Village at Basistha, to get a clear picture before granting environmental clearance to the project.
This was decided in the 97th meeting of the ministry’s expert appraisal committee for building or construction projects, township and area development projects, coastal regulation zone, infrastructure development and miscellaneous projects held last month in New Delhi.
The project involves development of residential and commercial buildings and a shopping complex on a plot with an area of 93,645 square metre, out of which 36,957.86 square metre will be developed as extension in the second phase.
The ministry said as the project had been found to be under the B1 category, it would require an environmental impact assessment.
After the project is completed, the total daily water requirement would be 1,217 kilolitre and the total solid waste generated every day would be 3 tonnes. The total proposed parking space will accommodate 790 cars.
It has asked for preparation of a site plan showing the project site and its surroundings with physical features and added that topographical details, such as land use, contours and drainage pattern, along with photographs of the site from all four sides, should be included in the background information.
It also called for detailed examination of the proposed site vis-à-vis impact on water supply infrastructure, stormwater drainage, sewerage and power and also impact of the disposed treated/raw wastes from the complex on the land/water bodies and the sewerage system. The executing agency will also have to carry out hydro-geological investigations and seek permission from the Central Ground Water Authority before extracting ground water for the project. The green belt and open spaces should also be spelt out in the plan.
The ministry said arrangements for hazardous waste management, involving waste collection, treatment and recycling and disposal of all effluents, emissions and refuse, including municipal solid waste, biomedical and hazardous wastes, should be stated in the plan. Water quality with reference to persistent organic pollutants should also be elaborated.
Other components sought by the ministry include a disaster management plan, a traffic management plan, describing the parking and loading/unloading areas, a traffic survey, carried out both on weekdays and weekends, and a service road for entry and exit to project site.
It has also asked for a study of the existing flora and fauna in the area and the impact of the project on them.

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