Housing projects pose threat to Suchindram Theroor Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu

Lush, inexperienced paddy fields interspersed with banana and coconut groves stretch endlessly from one facet of Parakkai Kulam, Kooni Kulam and Suchindram Kulam in Kanniyakumari district. They provide a habitat for native and migratory birds across the protected zone of the Suchindram Theroor Bird Sanctuary. However, with actual property sharks in the method of changing some wetlands into housing plots, the chicken habitat has come beneath threat.

If the event goes unchecked, not solely the sanctuary but additionally the individuals in close by habitations will endure as on the mattress of Parakkai Kulam and Kooni Kulam lie innumerable borewells dug by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) for supplying consuming water to the neighbouring villages.

C. Kosalai, president of Parakkai Panchayat, has woken up to the threat posed by actual property sharks. “I recently set out to prevent the owner of a wetland from creating a pathway to an area he had proposed to convert into housing plots,” she stated.

“He denied having any such plans. But he had already divided the land into plots and sold them to a few individuals,” stated Ms. Kosalai, who has put up boards on wetlands stating that land use conversion wouldn’t be permitted by the panchayat.

“I have been resisting the real estate lobby,” she added.

She identified that as early as in 2010, then Kanniyakumar Collector Rajendra Ratnoo had, following the depletion of the groundwater desk due to indiscriminate conversion of wetlands for housing projects, issued an order directing the village administrative officers (VAOs) not to grant permission for building actions on wetlands.

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But the order has seldom been adopted. Already, the paddy fields irrigated by Putheri Kulam have grow to be concrete patches.

“I have refused to sell my fields to the real estate lobby. They have surrounded my paddy fields with constructions, and have even been preventing water from flowing into my fields,” stated Satha Sakthi, a local of Putheri. His efforts had beforehand led to the elimination of the native panchayat president and vice-president for granting permission for housing plots.

In Parakkai, a 20-foot street divides the waterbody and the paddy fields, and behind the world marked for actual property growth runs a canal carrying water to the fields for irrigation.

“The first casualty will be the canal. It will be polluted by the residents if housing permission is granted,” Ms. Kosalai stated.

The actual property foyer circumvents the Collector’s order utilizing a time-tested methodology. First, they may domesticate plantain and coconut in the paddy subject. In two years, they may take away the banana crop and nurture the coconut. Later, the world might be levelled for a housing format.

“But you have to get permission even to change the crop in Kanniyakumari district, as the purpose of changing the crop is to create housing plots,” stated Lal Mohan, convener, Nagercoil chapter of the Indian National Trust for Culture and Heritage, who has been preventing related points in the district legally.

Ornithologist Rober Grubh stated the conversion of wetlands into housing plots would have a heavy bearing on birds’ habitat.

“All the wading birds in the waterbodies go outside to feed and come back. Not just the sanctuary, but the areas around it should also be protected,” Mr. Grubh stated.