Telangana prepares to notify 28 wetlands

Hyderabad: Draft notification proposals for 28 wetlands across Telangana, including major water bodies in Khammam, Jagtial and Nizamabad districts, have been prepared and will soon move to the gazette notification and public consultation stages. The move is part of the state’s efforts to protect lakes and wetlands, as per the Telangana forest department.

Among the 28 wetlands shortlisted for notification, Khammam district has the highest number with eight wetlands, followed by Jagtial with six and Komaram Bheem Asifabad with three. One wetland each has been identified in Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Jangaon, Mahabubabad, Mancherial, Nalgonda, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Peddapally, Warangal and Medak districts.

The list of wetlands includes Thummalamma Cheruvu, Appala Cheruvu, Doripulavagu, Maddukuru project wetland, Domarlapally wetland, Gopi Cheruvu, Kambalapally Cheruvu.

The same was informed during a meeting of the Telangana State Wetland Authority chaired by forest and environment minister Konda Surekha on Monday. Stressing the ecological importance of wetlands, the minister directed officials to speed up identification, protection and official notification of wetlands across the state under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.

Officials informed the meeting that ground-truthing of 12,249 wetlands identified in the SAC Atlas has been completed across Telangana, while boundary demarcation has so far been carried out for around 4,023 wetlands. The minister instructed the irrigation and revenue departments to expedite joint surveys in the remaining areas and prepare detailed "brief documents" for each wetland.

The meeting also reviewed the proposal to secure Ramsar Site recognition for the Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary. Ramsar Convention is an inter-governmental treaty for conservation of wetlands. Officials said the proposal has already been approved by the State Wildlife Board and sent to the central authorities after obtaining remarks from the irrigation department.

Principle chief conservator of forest, C Suvarna told TOI that district-level committees headed by district forest officers have been constituted to identify wetlands in every district. "These committees are working with the irrigation and revenue departments to demarcate boundaries and prepare detailed reports on the ecological health of identified sites,” she said.

The minister also warned that encroachments, dumping of solid waste and discharge of untreated sewage into wetlands are strictly prohibited under the 2017 rules.