My travels is all about... My views, thoughts and experiences on/about/at/with random places of interest, persons, things, events, issues etc,. I am an eternal student with a restless mind and a tumultuous heart!

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

A Grey Pelican's anguish

Grey Pelicans, also called Spot Billed Pelicans. By J.M.Garg - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5732107

(In the words of a Grey Pelican, a resident bird in the Kolleru Lake)
 
"A faint glimmer of hope makes me live in quest of an old paradise lost,
as my place gets encroached and my life gets tossed.
A Wildlife Sanctuary with no wildlife is the norm of the day, 
some thoughts for nature are not on the agenda, and the weak are just the prey.

Where did the lake disappear? Should I ask the industries or the fish ponds?
Nothing is more troubling than seeing your world shrink as no one responds.
Storks, Ibises, Teals and Pintails - My friends visit from far off places,
and I lost my pride as they mock my home, the worst of life's phases.

Are the champions of Ramsar listening our plight? 
If all's lost, I'm just an old bird incapable of flight.
In the land of the vanishing lake, everything is business as usual,
But when things get bad, don't blame the nature as cruel!"

A Bridge over Kolleru Lake IM3847 - Own work

Kolleru Lake (including the adjacent Atapaka Wildlife Sanctuary), a Ramsar Site, considered as one of India's largest inland Freshwater Lakes is in dire straits. A cursory search in Google maps or latest satellite reports indicate that most of the lake is encroached upon by Aquaculture, Agriculture, Industries (Ice Making et al) and due to natural factors (growth of weeds like Water Hyacinth and Elephant Grass). Despite the efforts of people like T Patanjali Sastry and a plethora of cases in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, governments (Central as well as State) play a deaf ear to the environmental concerns, indulging in regular de notifying of the legal limits of the Lake. 

2 comments:

  1. Am at Kolleru now. First time visit. Been reading about it for years and when I came to see it, am appalled. Human beings are pests. Period.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, rightly so sir/madam. I feel your pain. The once glorious Kolleru lake is now reduced to nothing. Thanks for the comment and taking your time in reading my anguish!

      Delete