Ganga Turtles| Multimodal Project| Varanasi| Waterways
Turtles help in cleaning Ganga Turtles by eating its garbage but the turtle’s life is in danger due to construction of a multimodal project in Varanasi.
Varanasi is the place where hindus believes that death leads directly to salvation. Large number of dead bodies are burnt on the Manikarnika ghat and other ghats. Very often apart from this, parts of unburnt bodies are also put in the river. The ganga near Varanasi had large number of turtles. These turtles used to DeBoer the carcasses of the dead bodies and clean up the Ganga river.
A multi-modal terminal is being constructed in Varanasi under the NW-1 project. The 7-kmstretch in front of Assi Ghat has been preserved as National Wild Life Turtle Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is located just 1.9 kilometres away from the terminal that is being constructed.
Inland Waterways| Environment| Impacts| Turtle Sanctuary
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has prepared a report on the environmental impact of terminal which is available here. In this report, the impacts of the Sanctuary on the turtle have been hidden in the report as given below:
1- The effect on the life of the turtles, from the terminal has been stated like this: “No movement of tortoise is reported upward to the site. No harm shall be caused to this tortoise in case any tortoise is sited. Necessary caution notice shall be displaced and conveyed to all construction workers and officers”.(Page 27, paragraph 13)
According to the report, if the turtle will be seen then turtle will not be harmed but the turtles die due to the ships and are not seen, then nothing is required to be done. Turtles will be affected by the noise and pollution by the ships. The report is silent on this.
2- The impact on water quality of the project has not been told only the current situation has been reported. (Paragraph 1.7).
3- The project will also affect the fishes but nothing has been said in this report. It has only been said that fishing will not be allowed (Page 24 paragraph 11)
We are enclosing the report of EIA (page 15 to 35)
Transportation| Environmental Clearance| National Green Tribunal
We have different options for transportation for the transport. Rail transport has lesser negative impacts. The Varanasi terminal is being made without obtaining Environmental Clearance against which we have files a case in the National Green Tribunal. The copy of the petition is attached here.
The government has now decided to shift the turtle century upstream from Varanasi to an area between Varanasi and Prayagraj. That may indeed help in conservation of turtles but the problem of unburnt carcasses is not solved. Because the unburnt carcasses that are dropped into the river will no longer have the turtles on downstream to clean it up. So, the decision of the government to shift the turtle century from Varanasi to upstream is incorrect and should be revised because it does not solve the problem of Ganga cleaning.
