The case of Gharana wetland located close to the international border in R.S. Pura has been hanging fire since a number of years. Over long years of indecision, apathy and myopic vision, huge encroachment had been made by land grabbers of the original Gharana wetland sanctuary. The Revenue and the Forest Departments had failed to recover the land perhaps owing to many factors like political pressures, land mafia activism and also negligence. However, when a PIL was filed in the State High Court seeking the status of the wetland and what action the Government was taking for the restoration of the wetland in full, some positive developments have taken place.
The significance of Gharana wetland is that it is the winter resort of birds coming from distant Siberian cold region and staying on at this locale till the beginning of spring. The bird sanctuary is known for a number of varieties of birds flying all the way from cold Siberian Steppes during winter and thus creating an excellent tourist destination in our State. A wetland bird sanctuary has to have just a foot -deep water where various species of insects are available for the migratory birds. Protection of these birds is mandatory for the Forest and Wild Life Departments. However, owing to greed and avarice of human beings, and to some extent the effect of natural phenomenon the water level of the wetlands got reduced with the result that the number of visiting birds began to fall. Furthermore, owing to reckless and callous land encroachment by unscrupulous people, the well-known Gharana wetlands shrank.
The PIL was vigorously pursued at the State High Court, and finally the High Court directed the State Government to move the nuts and bolts of administrative machinery to reclaim the entire original area of the Gharana wetland and add more land to it to give it bigger dimension. We are informed that Wildlife Department has placed indent for acquisition of 1100 kanals of private land and has formally approached Deputy Commissioner Jammu for removal of encroachments and demarcation of 393 kanals of State land which according to the revenue records stands in the name of Gharana wildlife sanctuary. This means that the sanctuary will ultimately cover nearly 1500 kanals of land after private land is acquired and payment to the owners is made. Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) has sent a communication to the Deputy Commissioner Jammu mentioning that the original notification of Gharana wetland reserve is 200 acres which comprises wetland area, State land, Shamlat-Deh and proprietary land. This has to be restored to the Wildlife Department. Now, the ball is in the court of Deputy Commissioner Jammu. With the mandate for acquiring 1100 kanals of proprietary land and removal of encroachments on 393 kanals of land followed by demarcation, the Wildlife Department would be in a position to restore the original area of the Gharana wetland and its catchment region.
Gharana is a very prestigious wetland reserve in the State. Unique birds from distant Siberia have been visiting it since long. Its shrinking had caused disappointment to the people of Jammu and the locality. This site had tremendous capacity to come up as an attractive site for the tourist footfall, which also meant indirect support to local economic activity. Thanks to the farsightedness of the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice which insisted on reclamation of the wetland in full and also addition of more land to it so that larger number of birds are attracted year after year. We hope that the Revenue Department will initiate the task of acquisition of land in shortest possible time and that good sense will prevail on all not to delay the acquisition process which otherwise is the most time consuming affair in such deals.
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