Guwahati : Every year during winters thousands of winged visitors make the Deepor Beel Bird Sanctuary located on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River, Guwahati a paradise for bird watchers, city residents, tourists and picnickers.
These migratory birds start taking shelter from mid-November in Deepor Beel. They arrive at this destination after completing a troublesome journey of several thousand kilometres from winter-hit regions of Europe, Antarctica, North America, South Africa, China, Russia, Ghana, Siberia etc.
But this year, locals living near Deepor Beel have noticed that arrival of migratory birds at the bird sanctuary has been very low this winter. Increasing pollution, deforestation and disturbance caused by humans are affecting the ecology of the wetland are some of the main reasons point out the residents. Hilly areas in and around Guwahati are being encroached by people thereby keeping away these migratory birds from taking shelter.
Deepor Beel also has undergone rapid change due to irrational industrialization, careless agricultural activities, eroding forest cover in the adjoining areas, and illegal human settlements within the vicinity.
Dumping of garbage and sewage on the wetland is having a disastrous effect on the wetland’s ecosystem. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is very much responsible for the pathetic condition of the Deepor Beel as it has been using the wetland as its dumping ground.
Such pollution harms the growth of flora and fauna in the water body. The deposition of waste coming out of innumerable factories are also killing the fish and spoiling the Deepor Beel’s ecosystem rapidly. Moreover, solid and liquid waste leaching into the Beel during the rainy season further helps in deterioration of the water quality.
But amidst all this a cold wave has hit Guwahati. With mercury dipping well below normal the locals hope that it will increase the arrival of the migratory birds in Deepor Beel in the next few days.
