Drought effect: Gharial breeding at Kartania Ghat in deep water

Bahraich: The drought in the country has started to affect the aquatic wildlife especially the critically endangered ‘Gharial’ in Kartaniya Ghat wildlife sanctuary in Bahraich of Uttar Pradesh.

The closure of Chaudhary Charan Singh Girija Barrage at Kothiya Ghat has resulted in drying up the Gerua River in the peak time of Gharial breeding.

The Gharial have migrated to deeper water which is most likely to affect the breeding this season as female Gharial will not be able to preserve their eggs on the river banks.

Drought affected Kartaniya Ghat wildlife sanctuary

The Gharial:

• The Gharial are native to Indian sub-continent and are considered only true descendants of the ancient crocodile family that existed some 100 million years ago.
• It is one of the three crocodile found in the world after mugger and saltwater.
• They have long snout and they grow upto 3 to 5 feet.
• The International Union For Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have listed them in the ‘critically endangered species’ in 1997.

What officers say?

According to the project officer of world wildlife federation (WWF) Dabir Hasan, there is nothing to worry as the aquatic wildlife have moved to deeper water and the situation will come to normalcy after rainfall.