Itanagar: Documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act have laid bare the alarming extent of destruction within the Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary (IWLS), Arunachal Times reported.
Environmental activist and advocate SD Loda secured the RTI documents, revealing that the sanctuary, officially established on July 14, 1978, largely exists only in name, with significant encroachment having taken place.
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The Environment, Forest & Climate Change Department appears to lack crucial data regarding compensatory afforestation efforts and the loss of primary forest cover within the IWLS.
Compounding concerns about the escalating deforestation is the potential impact on the sanctuary’s water resources.
Shockingly, RTI responses indicate that the government has yet to assess the degradation of these vital water sources or conduct surveys of major water bodies within the sanctuary’s boundaries.
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Further, the RTI documents raise serious legal questions, revealing that the establishment of the Itanagar Municipal Corporation and an Assembly constituency within the IWLS boundaries is not legally sound.
In a particularly concerning revelation, two of Itanagar’s most prominent structures – the civil secretariat and the state Assembly – considered the state’s power centers, were allegedly constructed without mandatory environmental clearances due to their location within the sanctuary, the report stated.
The documents further indicate that despite a complete absence of granted construction permits or clearances since 1980 within the IWLS, extensive construction has proceeded unchecked.
“No environmental impact assessments were prepared for major constructions, and no compensatory afforestation was undertaken,” Arunachal Times quoted Loda as saying.
“Even more disturbing is the prevalence of ‘NA’ (not available) entries for records of objections raised by the Wildlife Department regarding these illegal constructions, suggesting a complete abdication of responsibility by the very authorities tasked with protecting the sanctuary,” he said.
The consequences of this alleged negligence are starkly illustrated by wildlife census data.
Reports from 2017 and recent years document a dramatic decline in wildlife sightings. Elephant census reports from 2017, 2022, and 2023, included in the RTI response, show a disturbing trend of progressively fewer elephant sightings within the sanctuary, culminating in little to no direct sightings of these once-abundant mammals in the most recent surveys.
“The sanctuary that was meant to be a haven for these threatened species has instead become a cautionary tale of conservation failure and administrative negligence,” Loda lamented.
“Urgent intervention at the highest levels is required to halt further destruction and hold accountable those responsible for this systematic dismantling of a protected wildlife sanctuary.”
Established to safeguard the region’s rich biodiversity across approximately 140.8 sq kms, the Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary once provided habitat for a diverse array of species.
The RTI documents highlight the tragic impact of human encroachment, noting that 58 species within the sanctuary are now classified as ‘threatened’.