Bhopal: The Deori gharial rearing centre in Morena has recorded an unprecedented hatching of gharials this season. Hatchlings have started emerging out of eggs of gharial collected from national Chambal sanctuary.Chambal river accounts for majority of the gharial population in the country.Over 100 hatchlings have come out of the eggs, collected from the river. The remaining would hatch by month-end, said the officials.As officials are trying to restore its population in Chambal, illegal sand mining continues to pose the biggest threat to the last of the wild and breeding gharials in Son gharial sanctuary of Sidhi district. Forest rangers have failed to locate even a single hatchling this breeding season. Insiders say that the only male gharial left in the river is also missing.Social activist and lawyer Nithyanand Mishra had filed a complaint before National Green Tribunal (NGT) alleging that sand mining around Son river is posing a major threat to gharials at the sanctuary that runs across UP and MP. NGT had ordered the state government to take measures to ensure that no illegal sand mining is allowed in the area. As per official figures, there were only 19 gharials left in Son river in 2013, which increased to 72 in 2016. Now, there are only 48 left.Mining of sand banks is destructive for gharials as they are essential for nesting and basking, as they lay eggs under sand beds, but illegal mining destroys their nests.

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